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William Churchill Houston 



1 



J 746-1 788 



"QROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS AND NATURAL 
^ PHILOSOPHY AT THE PRINCETON COLLEGE, 
CAPTAIN OF INFANTRY IN THE WAR OF THE 
REVOLUTION, DEPUTY SECRETARY OF THE CON- 
TINENTAL CONGRESS, MEMBER OF THE LEGISLA- 
TURE OF NEW JERSEY, AND ALSO OF THE CONTI- 
NENTAL CONGRESS, AND A DELEGATE TO THE 
CONVENTION WHICH FRAMED THE CONSTITUTION 
OF THE UNITED STATES. HE WAS ALSO CLERK OF 
THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW JERSEY, AND AN 
EMINENT LAWYER. 



By THOMAS ALLEN GLENN 

[PRIVATELY PRINTED] 
NORRISTOWN, PA., MDGCCGIII 






VAT, C- . 04- o u->©C«'>^- 



PREFACE, 



In the following pages an attempt has been made 
to preserve the memory of one of those men, who, by 
their untiring and unselfish efforts, made the Independ- 
ence of our country possible, and who crowned their 
labors by bestowing upon it a constitution which has 
always been acknowledged by the most eminent states- 
men of every land to be the most perfect and splendid 
one ever devised. 

It is to be deeply regretted that the story of 
the life of William Churchill Houston must be told 
from a very few remaining records and letters. 
What has been gathered, indeed, is the result of 
years of labor by his descendant and namesake, Wil- 
liam Churchill Houston, Esq., of Philadelphia. If. 
however, the meagre data here presented will assist in 
preserving the memory of an ardent and untiring pa- 
triot, who, like Washington, refused to despair when 
the clouds were darkest and when confronted by difii- 
culties which appeared to many unsurmountable, and 
will bring additional light to bear, from sources of in- 
formation now unknown, not only upon his career, but 
also upon those of his compatriots, the purposes of this 
work will be accomplished. The thanks of the author 
are due to Hon. Garret D. V. Vroom, and Foster C. 
Griffith, of Trenton, N. J., for valuable assistance in 
the compilation of this work. 

Thomas Allen Glenn. 
WynneTvood, Pa. 



BOYHOOD AND COLLEGE DAYS. 

William Churchill Houston, the son of Archibald 
and Margaret Houston, was born about the year 1746. 
There is no reason for doubting the definite statement 
that the exact place of his birth was in the "Sumter 
District," in South Carolina. Here, on Bull creek, 
his kinsman, Dr. William Houston, the friend and 
partner of Henry AlcCulloch. the land speculator, 
and a man of considerable prominence and influence in 
both of the Carolinas, owned a large plantation. 

His father. Archibald Houston, however, appears 
among the first settlers in the county of Anson, subse- 
<^|uently Mecklenburg, North Carolina, and it was in 
this locality, celebrated as the place from whence that 
very remarkable document, the JMecklenburg Declara- 
tion of Independence, emanated,* that William 
Churchill Houston passed his youth, and here, also, 
under the austere tutelasfe of those earlv Scotch and 



*Tije author of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence 
was Ephraim Brevard, M. D., Houston's class-mate at Princeton. 

Captain Jack, who had married William Churchill Houston's 
sister. Margaret, was the messenger who carried this Declaration 
io the Congress. Hunter, in his "Sketches of Western North 
Carolina." says: 

"At the Convention of Delegates in Charlotte on the 19th and 
20th of May, 177.5. Captain James Jack was one of the deeply inter- 
ested spectators, and shared in the patriotic feelings of that ever 
memorable occasion. He was then about forty-three years of age 
— brave, energetic and ready to engage in any duty having for its 
object the welfare and independence of his country. After the 
passage of the patriotic resolutions, elsewhere given in this vol- 
ume, constituting the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, 
Captain Jack, for his well-known energy, bravery and determina- 
tion of character, was selected to be the bearer of them to Con- 
gress, then in se.=sion in Philadelphia." 



Scotch-Irish, who raised their rude school-houses upon 
the extreme margin of the frontier, he received that 
earher training which so well prepared him for the 
career that in after life he elected to follow. 

The family from which these Houstons sprang 
was of Scotch ancestry and bore a name long dis- 
tinguished in the annals of the Lowland of that coun- 
try for learning, patriotism and valor, and, like a ma- 
jority of their fellow countrymen, its members were 
stern and uncompromising adherents of the Presbyte- 
rian Church. 

Archibald, the father of William Churchill Houston, 
first appears upon the records of North Carolina in 
1753, in which year he received a patent of land 
within the county of Anson, and he afterwards, in 
1764, patented five hundred additional acres, then in 
the bounds of Mecklenburg, and acquired other lands 
adjacent. He was a planter of importance and wealth, 
superior in education and intelligence to many of his 
neighbors, and he survived his distinguished son, dy- 
ing in the county of Cabarras, which had been formed 
out of Mecklenburg, which, in turn, had been erected 
out of Anson, in the year 1805, at a very advanced age. 

A wilder land than that in which William 
Churchill Houston was born cannot well be pictured. 
In South Carolina, the Indians at that time were both 
numerous and dangerous. The English, as yet, had 
effected but little foothold beyond scattered settle- 
ments along the coast, and those more adventurous 
planters who had forced their way inland were still 
struggling desperately with impenetrable forests, im- 
passable swamps and hostile natives. 



To the westward, where afterwards were smiling 
farms, lay the hunting ground of the savage Chero- 
kee, at certain seasons of the year a di'eary waste of 
water and underwood, and further westward still lay 
a trackless primeval forest through which, genera- 
tions before, De Soto had chopped his way to glory 
and death. At the time of Houston's boyhood the 
Cherokee Nation and neighboring tribes were fre- 
quently at war with the settlers and always with each 
other. Here Cherokee, Creek and Choctaw murdered 
one another with fiendish ingenuity and unfailing reg- 
ularity. 

James Adair, an adventurous hunter and trader, 
thus describes a journey which he made through this 
country in 1747. In his journal under that year he 
writes : 

"Many of the broad, deep creeks that were almost 
dry when I went down, had now far overflowed their 
l)anks, ran a rapid rate, and were impassable to any 
but desperate people. When I got within forty miles 
of the Chickasaw, the rivers and swamps were dreadful, 
by rafts of timber driving down the former, and the 
great fallen trees floating in the latter, for near a mile 
in length. Being forced to wade deep through cane- 
swamps or woody thickets, it proved very troublesome 
to keep my fire-arms dry, on which, as a second means, 
my life depended ; for, by the rewards of the French, 
some enemies were aKvays rambling about in search 
of us. 

"On the eastern side of one of the rivers, in taking 
a sweep early in a wet morning, in quest of my horses, 
I discovered smoke on a small piece of rising ground 
in a swam]), pretty near the edge ; I moved nearer, 
from tree to tree, till I discovered them to be Choc- 
taws creeping over the fire. I withdrew without be- 
ing discovered, and apprehended no danger, as at the 



worst I could have immediately inswamped and se- 
cured a retreat with my trusty fire-arms and taken 
through the river and the broad swamp, which then 
resembled a mixed ocean of wood and water. I soon 
observed the tracks of my horses, found them and set 
off. At the distance of a hundred yards from the river 
there was a large and deep lagoon, in the form of a 
semi-circle. As soon as I swam this and got on the 
bank, I drank a good draug-ht of rum ; in the middle of 
the river I was forced to throw away one of my belt 
pistols and a long French scalping-knife I had found 
where the Choctaws killed two of our traders. When 
I got on the opposite shore I renewed my draught, 
ptit my fire-arms in order, and set up the war-whoop> 

"I had often the like scenes till I got to the Chicka- 
saw country, which was also all afloat. The people 
had been saying a little before I got home, that, should 
I chance to be on the path, it would be near fifty days 
before I could pass the neighboring deep swamps. 

"As I had the misfortunte to lose my tomahawk, 
and wet all the punk in my shot pouch, by swimming 
the waters, I could not strike fire for the space of three 
days, and it rained extremely hard during that time.'' 

Adair gives other interesting accounts of similar 
adventures during succeeding years. 

That part of North Carolina, Anson county, into 
which Archibald Houston removed, was, in some re- 
spects, wilder than the Sumter District, where he had 
first settled. It is true that there were few swamps, 
but the land was much more rugged and rocky, the 
danger from the Indians as great, and this region also 
abounded in all kinds of wild creatures. A.lways the 
panther, wildcat, wolf and bear might be found without 
seeking, and the deadly rattlesnake basked in numbers 
on each stony hill. Deei were abundant, and on pas- 



5 

tures not far distant might be heard at times the thun- 
der of galloping herds of buffalo. 

We must suppose, therefore, that young Houston 
was equally expert with the rifle as with the axe, for 
these accomplishments went hand in hand in the edu- 
cation of the frontier lad of that day. The family of 
the pioneer, indeed, depended equally upon both for 
food, shelter, and often for life. 

But amid these wild surroundings the Scotch set- 
tler was careful that his children should have as nearly 
as possible the same advantages of education that he 
himself had enjoyed. 

As William Churchill Houston was appointed a 
teacher in the Princeton Grammar School immediately 
upon his matriculation at the College of New Jersey, 
it is evident that he must already have acquired a clas- 
sical education of no mean order, and also have been 
well schooled in mathematics and in English literature. 

It cannot, indeed, be questioned that the facilities 
for rudimentary education in North Carolina were, in 
the days of Houston's boyhood, equal, if not superior, 
to those existing in any other of the colonies at that 
time. 

"This," says an authority, "was due entirely to 
the influence of the Scotch and Scotch-Irish immigra- 
tion. 

"From the arrival of these immigrants dates the 
impulse for the establishment of schools throughout the 
State. It is to the Presbyterian Church that North 
Carolina owes the establishment of her first classical 
schools, and during the second half of the eighteenth 
century the history of education in this state is insep- 



arably connected with that of this denomination. Rev. 
erend Dr. Rumple, in writing of this period, says: 
'And so the Presbyterian Church of this age has re- 
garded it as indispensable to her welfare to maintain 
schools where her sons should learn to read the Latin 
tongue, the language of Western Christianity, and the 
Greek, in which the New Testament was written, as 
well as the mathematics and the liberal sciences — the 
'Trivium' and the 'Ouadrivium.' 

"About 1745 the New York and Pennsylvania 
Synods of the Presbyterian Church began to send mis- 
sionaries to North Carolina. Numerous churches 
were established, and in every instance a school was 
planted by the church." 

"Almost invariably," says Foote, "as soon as a 
neighborhood was settled, preparations were made for 
the preaching of the Gospel by a regular stated pastor, 
and wherever a pastor was located, in that congrega- 
tion there was a classical school — as in Sugar Creek, 
Poplar Tent,* Centre," and other places. 

It was in one of these primitive, but well equipped 
schools, either at Sugar Creek or Poplar Tent, but 
probalily the latter, as nearest to his home, that Wil 
liam Churchill Houston commenced his studies. 



♦William S. Harrie, in his "Historical Sketch of Poplar Tent 
Church," writes: 

"Hezekiah J. Raich, Benjamin Patton, Robert Harris. Zac- 
cheus Wilson, John Phifer, and David Rees, ministers, elders and 
members of ihis church, were signers of the Declaration of In- 
dependence at Charlotte, May 20th, 1775. (Mecklenburg Declara- 
tion of Independence.) William Churchill Houeton^ of New Jer- 
sey, was a native here to the manor born — educated in part in 
the log-cabin academy of Poplar Tent. He graduated at Prince- 
ton in 1768 — was elected professor of mathematics and natural 
philoeophy in that renowned institution in 1771, resigned in 1783. 
He devoted himself to the profession of law and illustrated a 
Eplendid career as a lawyer and etateeman in his adopted state." 



"In North Carolina, as in several other States," 
says Charles Lee Smith, "the higher education owes 
its first impulses to the Presbyterian Church and 
Princeton College." 

Presbyterian missionaries, graduates of Princeton, 
sent to this State in the first half of the eighteenth cen- 
tury by the Pennsylvania and New York Synods, 
gathered the scattered families of their faith into 
churches, and by the side of the church was planted a 
classical school. For more than half a century Prince- 
ton influence was predominant in North Carolina. 
Many of the leading divines, teachers, and politicians 
were alumni of that institution." 

One of the first of Princeton's sons to make a 
home for himself amid the roughness and perils of a 
newly settled part of North Carolina was the Reverend 
Hugh McAden, of the class of 1753, a native of Penn- 
sylvania, who came as a missionary in 1755, and was 
one of the first organizers of the Presbyterian church 
in the Southern States. 

Following him came Alexander Martin, a native 
of New Jersey, who became Governor of the state, 
Reverend Alexander McWhorter, class of 1757, 
Samuel Spencer, class of 1759, a native of North Caro- 
lina, Joseph Alexander, class of 1760, Reverend John 
Close, class of 1763, Waightstill Avery, class of 1766, 
a native of Connecticut, afterwards first Attorney Gen- 
eral of the state, and many others. 

Of these it was probably Joseph Alexander who 
directed Houston to Princeton, and there can be no 
doubt that he personally prepared him to enter that 
college. 



8 

Alexander was born near Charlotte, in what is 
now Cabarras county, within a short distance from 
Houston's home, and graduated from Princeton in 
the class of 1760. He immediately returned to his 
native state and began teaching at Charlotte. In 1766 
he opened a large classical school at Sugar Creek, call- 
ed Alexander's Academy. 

A near neighbor of the Houston family and a 
man popular as a teacher in that locality, he was in- 
strumental in shaping young Houston's career and 
was, perhaps, the first to remark his extraordinary 
predilection for study. It was, indeed, Joseph Alex- 
ander who prepared for Princeton Houston's class- 
mate Thomas Rees, and these boys had been raised 
upon adjacent plantations. 

There are several traditions which have been 
handed down to us regarding the commencement of 
Houston's course at college, and the reason for his 
separation, at this early age, from home ties. 

One of these, which has been often printed, states 
that his father was a Quaker, and, not approving of 
higher education, but finding his son determined to 
become a professional man, presented him with a horse 
and fifty pounds in money and sent him from home to 
seek his fortune, thus practically disinheriting him. 
We know, of course, that Archibald Houston was not 
a member of the Society of Friends, nor was that So- 
ciety opposed to education, but, on the contrary, en- 
couraged it in every possible way. A horse and 
money, however, were absolutely necessary for a jour- 
ney to Princeton, and so this part of the story seems 
probable enough, and is, moreover, interesting as indi- 



eating what it cost in those days to send a boy to col- 
lege. 

There is no reason, however, to think that young 
Houston and his father were not on the most friendly 
terms. We must, therefore, suppose that the project 
was much talked over and finally decided upon, 
the necessary money given hiin and a horse provided 

And so he journeyed. With a stout horse under 
him he rode straight northward through the forest, 
leaving farther and farther behind him, at every stride 
of the brute he bestrode, the home, scenes and friends 
of his boyhood days — and he had bidden these fare- 
well forever. His father's house, the clearings in 
which as a child he had played, and where later as a 
lad he had toiled, the live stock which he had helped 
to raise — ^the colts, the oxen, the sheep, and the sheep- 
dogs — all of these he was never again to see. 

Before him stretched for hundreds of weary miles 
an almost unbroken wilderness, dotted only occasional- 
ly by the rude cabins and half-cleared plantations ot 
those thrifty countrymen of his, the hardy Scotch and 
Scotch-Irish pioneers. Beyond these miles the river 
of the mighty Powhatan — the James — rolled in sol- 
emn grandeur to the sea, and after that another stretch 
of country, more civilized, but as yet thinly settled, 
and then, at last, across the sands and pines of New 
Jersey, lay Princeton. Nor was the path without 
grave dangers. Indians in the pay of the French still 
penetrated the settlements, and lawless men, half 
traders and wholly thieves and murderers, abounded 
everywhere. To accept shelter for a night at an out- 
lying cabin might be courting certain death, and the 



lO 

alternative was to sleep in the open and take chances 
with prowling Indians and wild beasts. 

Had Houston kept a journal of this trip and had 
set down an account of his feelings on leaving home, as 
well as the incidents of travel, it would now, doubt- 
less, be interesting reading. Knowing the man, how- 
ever, as we do — knowing his unflinching determination 
and strong self-reliant courage, it cannot be imagined 
for one single moment that either thoughts of home 
or friends caused him to swerve one inch from the way 
he had taken, or lay one hesitating and detaining hand 
upon his horse's bridle-rein. 

He came, indeed, from a race accustomed for cen- 
turies to hew its own way — and often that way led far 
from a home — a people, who, when they once set 
about a task did it with all their might — a people whose 
ambitions were never satisfied and to whom each suc- 
cess in life meant but a stepping-stone to something 
higher — each failure a lesson well learned and not for- 
gotten — a people who would cheerfully sufifer and 
starve for years — if suffering and starving would ulti- 
mately assist to attain their most cherished wish. They 
feared God in their own peculiar way, it is true, but 
they feared nothing else on earth, with the stubborn 
characteristics of the race from whence he sprang, 
Houston rode straight onward to the success that 
awaited him — the success that awaits all who take the 
trouble to achieve it. 

The recommendations which he carried to Presi- 
dent Finley, doubtless from Joseph Alexander, must 
have been exceptionally strong, and, moreover, fully 
justified by an examination, for he was at once ap- 



IX 

pointed a teacher in the Grammar School, and the mo- 
ney which he received for this work must have mate- 
rially assisted him in the continuance of his studies, 
and in addition to this enabled him to lay the founda- 
tion for the position of Professor of Mathematics and 
Natural Philosophy in the college which, as we shall 
see, was tendered to him upon the completion of his 
course. 

At Princeton, Houston was confronted with con- 
ditions which were new, and, because of his early sur- 
roundings and the freedom of frontier life, must have 
been at first very disagreeable and irksome to him. 
The unconstrained and comparatively easy career of a 
student, as we know it now, was then a thing unheard 
of, and the most rigorous discipline was supposed al- 
w^ays to be observed. In addition to this, menial servi- 
tude from the lower to the higher class-men was com- 
pulsory. "In those days," writes one of Princeton's 
sons, "college life was a little more stately than this 
irreverent age would be inclined to favor. It must 
have been a goodly sight to see the President, tutors 
and students, all seated together in the wide dining 
room, clad in the scholastic gown, and arranged ac- 
cording to rank and seniority. They lived very sub- 
stantially on 'almost all the variety of fish and flesh 
the country here affords, and sometimes pyes.' At 
dinner they drank small beer or cider; and supper 
milk or chocolate. Young gentlemen who chose to 
indulge in that luxury were occasionally permitted to 
make 'a dish of tea' in their apartments. At five 
o'clock in the morning a large horn was blown in the 
entry, which, as a Freshman of the day sadly remarks, 



12 

sounded like the last trumpet. This blast summoned 
the students to morning prayers. The students were 
not allowed to leave their rooms without permission 
except for half an hour after morning prayers or reci- 
tations, an hour and a half after dinner, and from even 
prayers until seven o'clock." Is it little wonder that 
many of the graduates of this time died before their 
prime, or at least those who attempted to keep such 
rules. Athletic sports, of course, were not only un- 
known, but any physical exercise appears to have been 
frowned upon. The playing of games of hazard, of 
course, was a matter for especial oversight. A college 
rule of old Nassau Hall reads : 

"None of the students shall play at cards, or dice, 
or any other unlawful game, upon the penalty of a fine 
not exceeding five shillings for the first offence ; for 
the second offence, public admonition ; for the third 
offence, expulsion. No jumping, hallowing, or bois- 
terous noise shall be suffered in the college (meaning 
also the college grounds and campus) at any time, or 
walking in the gallery in the time of study. No mem- 
ber of college shall wear his hat in the college at any 
time, or appear in the dining room at meal time, or in 
the hall at any public meeting or knowingly in the 
presence of the superiority of the college, without an 
upper garment, and having shoes and stockings tight. 
Every scholar shall rise up and make obeisance when 
the President goes in or out of the hall, or enters the 
pulpit on days of religious worship. 

"Every Freshman sent on an errand shall go and 
do it faithfully, and make quick return. Every scholar 
in college shall keep his hat off about ten rods from the 
President, and five rods to the Tutors." 

Nice rules like these, however, have rarely been 
kept in any college, or by any boys, since the days of 



13 

Athens to the present time, and so it was at old Nassau 
Hall. Traditions come down to us from the hazy 
mists of those good old times, of doings in the town 
the very relation of which should make the old Presi- 
dents turn over in their graves were it not for the 
fact that they themselves seem to have been given con- 
siderably to conviviality, if not exactly on the sly at least 
without the knowledge and consent of their pupils. 
Witness a bill rendered to the trustees of the college, 
for thirty-seven dinners, twenty-three bottles of wine, 
eight of porter, six of beer, three double bowls of 
punch extra brewed, and three bowls of toddy. 

But, as we observed, the students had their own 
times. Washington Irving and Paulding have left us 
the "Lay of the Scottish Fiddle," in which is pictured 
an old time scene in Princeton town, at the Nassau 
Hotel, kept by mine host, Jolne, "as arrant a tavern's 
keeper as any in Christendom." 

The course of instruction at Princeton at that time 
is thus outlined by Dr. Finley, then President of the 
College. He writes : 

"As to the branches of literature taught here, 
they are same with those which are made parts of edu- 
cation in the European colleges, save only such as 
may be occasioned by the infancy of this institution. 
The students are divided into four distinct classes, 
which are called the Freshmen, the Sophomore, the 
Junior, and the Senior. In each of these they continue 
one year, giving and receiving in their turns those 
tokens of respect and subjection which belong to their 
standings, in order to preserve a due subordination. 
The Freshman year is spent in Latin and Greek Ian- 



u 

guages, particularly in reading Horace, Cicero's Ora- 
tions, the Greek Testament, Lucian's Dialogues, and 
Xenophon's Cyropedia. 

"In the Sophomore year they still prosecute the 
study of the languages, particularly Homer, Longinus, 
etc., and enter upon the study of sciences, geography, 
rhetoric, logic, and the mathematics. They continue 
their mathematical studies throughout the junior year, 
and also pass through a course of natural and moral 
philosophy, metaphysics, cronology, etc.; and the 
greater number, especially such as are educating for 
the service of the church, are initiated into the He- 
brew. The Senior year is entirely employed in re- 
views and compositions. They now revise the most 
improving parts of Latin and Greek classics, part of 
the Hebrew Bible, and all the arts and sciences. The 
weekly course of disputation is continued, which was 
also carried on through the preceding year. They 
discuss two or three theses a week, some in the syllo- 
gistic and others in the foretisic manner, alternately, 
the forensic being always performed in the English 
tongue." There were also public disputations on Sun- 
days on theological questions, and once in every month 
the Seniors delivered original orations before a public 
audience, and, with the members of the lower classes, 
were required to declaim from time to time, in public, 
at the suggestion of the professors. 

Houston has left us no personal narration of his 
college life. We know, however, that he continued as 
a teacher in the Grammar School until 1768, in which 
year, being president of his class, he graduated with 
the highest honors and was appointed Senior tutor in 



15 

the College. A handsome silver medal, presented to 
him by the Faculty upon this occasion, is still in 
the possession of one of his descendants. 

His course at the college had been such that he 
won both esteem and admiration of both the authori- 
ties and his classmates,* and which he continued to re 
tain until the end of his life. 



•■"These were: Robert Blackwell, Ephraim Brevard, Elias Van 
Bunschooten, Samuel Culbertson, Pierpont Edwards, Adlal Os- 
born, Thomas Rees, D. D., Michael Sebring, Thomas Smith, Isaac 
Story, Alexander Hill, Hugh Sim, most of whom were afterwards 
difetinguished in public and private life, and some of whom ac- 
quired reputations which have become national. 



A PROFESSOR AT PRINCETON AND CAP- 
TAIN IN WASHINGTON'S ARMY. 

The coming to Princeton of John Witherspoon, in 
the year 1768, was an event which must have exercised 
an enormous influence over Houston's career, and, m 
fact, absolutely shaped it, at least from a political stand- 
point. Houston had but just graduated with high 
honors, and was occupying the position of Senior 
Tutor, when the great descendant of John Knox suc- 
ceeded Finley as President of the College of New Jer- 
.sey. 

"Although," savs Tyler. "John Witherspoon did 
not come to America until after he had himself 
passed the middle line of human life, yet so quickly 
did he then enter into the sjnrit of American society, 
so perfectly did he identify himself with its nobler 
moods of discontent and aspiration, so powerfully did 
he contribute by speech and act to the right develop- 
ment of this new nation out of the cluster of dispersed 
and dependent communities, that it would be altogether 
futile to attempt to frame a just account of the great 
intellectual movements of our Revolution without tak- 
ing some note of the part played in it by this eloquent, 
wise, and efficient Scotsman — at once teacher, 
preacher, politician, law-maker, and philosopher. 

Immediately upon his arrival at Princeton we find 
Witherspoon addressing himself to increase the influ- 
ence of the College in every department. 

He "brought about an enlargement of the cur- 



17 

riculum by the introduction of new courses, particu- 
larly in Hebrew and French and mathematics; and 
through his own brilliant example as a lecturer on 
eloquence, history, philosophy and divinity, he en- 
couraged methods of instruction far more manly, vital 
and stimulating than those previously in vogue there." 

In this work he had not only the sympathy, but 
the active co-operation of Houston, of whom thus 
early he entertained a high opinion. Thrown into al- 
most hourly intercourse with a man who immediately 
became active in the highest sphere of American poli- 
tics of that day, it is not remarkable that Houston 
should have elected to follow in his footsteps and in 
the footsteps of his associates; and, possessing many 
of the same attributes of birth, education, temperament 
and ability as his preceptor, have reached a plane, if 
at least not so high, still as active and as useful in 
many ways to the Revolutionary cause as Witherspoon 
himself. 

It was in the spring of 1776 that Witherspoon 
commenced his political career by taking his seat a-^ 
a member of the convention for framing the first Con- 
stitution for New Jersey, and, on the 21st of June, was 
sent to the Continental Congress, in which body he 
took his place in time to afiSx his name to the Declara- 
tion of Independence, which he also voted for. He 
remained in Congress until succeeded by Houston. 

"At the commencement of 1771," writes MacLean, 
"there were but twelve graduates; but of these sev- 
eral attained great eminence, and one of them, James 
Madison, became the fourth President of the United 
States." 



i8 



The most important measure adopted by the 
Board at this time was the establishing of the Profes- 
sorship of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, and 
the appointment of Mr. Houston, the Senior Tutor, as 
the encumbent. The minute relating to this subject 
is as follows : 

"Pursuant to a plan heretofore concerted for the 
establishment of learning in this College, as soon as 
funds should be found to admit of their support, the 
Trustees resumed the consideration of that measure; 
and conceiving it to be expedient that a Mathematical 
Professor, as most immediately requisite, be now 
chosen in the place of one of the Tutors, proceeded to 
the election of a Professor of Mathematics and Natural 
Philosophy, when William Churchill Houston, M. A., 
now Senior Tutor in the College, was declared to be 
unanimously elected to that office. It was then re- 
solved that for the present the salary of the said Mr. 
Houston, as Professor of Mathematics and Natural 
Philosophy, be the sum of one hundred and twenty-five 
pounds proc, and that the Board will hereafter provide 
for him better support, as their funds will admit and 
the future situation of the said Professor shall reason- 
ably require, as it is intended by the Board that the said 
Professorship shall be permanent in this college for the 
future." 

This election took place September 25th, 1771. 
Houston immediately accepted the appointment and 
conditions. 

Two days after this the Trustees of the College 
gave an elegant dinner, presumably in Houston's 
honor. The bill for this banquet, which we have al- 



19 

ready referred to, yet remains in the Payne-Henry col- 
lection in the Princeton library, and reads as follows : 

The Trustees of New Jersey College. Dr. 
To Wm. Hick. 

1771. Sept. 27. L. S. D. 

To 37 dinners 4 12 6 

To 23 bottles of wine at 5s 5 15 

To 8 bottles porter 16 

To 6 bottles of beer 9 

To 3 double bowls of punch 9 

To 3 double bowls of toddy 6 

To tea for 13 gentlemen 13 

13 6 6 

Below this ft is approved and receipted in these 
words : 

"The above amount I believe to be juet. 

John Wltherepoon. 

Princeton, 12 Dec. 1771, received of Mr. Seargent the above 
eum of thirteen pounds and sixpence money, by me, William 
Hick. 

The breaking out of the Revolution saw Houston 
still a Professor of Mathematics at Princeton. What 
part he took in the years leading up to the struggle 
for Independence, or how far he was influenced by the 
opinions of his friend and associate Witherspoon, we 
have no means of knowing, but when volunteers were 
called for he was among the first to take the field. 

In the minutes of the Council of Safety of New 
Jersey, under the date of Wednesday, February 28th, 
we find the following entry : 

"Agreeable to Certificate. 

"Ordered, that the following persons be otficeiTS of a company 
in the Second Regiment of foot militia in the county of Somerset, 
under the command of Abraham Quick, Esq., Colonel, viz: Wil- 
liam Churchill Houston, Captain; Aaron Longstreet, First Lieu- 
tenant; Zebulon Barton, Second Lieutenant, and James Stockton, 
Ensign." 

From the use of the words "agreeable to certifi- 
cate" it would certainly appear that the officers named 



20 



had been chosen some time before and were now 
commanding the company. 

Captain Houston served until the following Au- 
gust, when he tendered his resignation. The Min- 
utes of the Council, under date of August 17th, 1776, 
thus refer to the subject : 

"A letter was received from William Churchill Houeton, cap- 
tain of a company in the Second Battalion of foot in the county 
of Somerset, setting forth, that, from his connection with the 
college in the absence of Dr. Withe.rspoon, and other considera- 
tions, he cannot pay the due attention to his company, and beg- 
ging leave to resign hie commission. 

"Ordered, that his resignation be accepted." 

Unfortunately, no complete record of the services 
of this company commanded by Captain Houston, or 
of the regiment of which it formed a part, remains. 

The following, taken principally from Stryker's 
Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Revolution, and 
from the History of Hunterdon and Somerset Coun- 
ties, throws, however, some light on the subject. 

At various times during the war New Jersey, by 
reason of its being continually exposed to the incur- 
sions of the British and the ravages of the refugees and 
Indians, found it necessary to embody, as occasion re- 
quired, a certain quota of volunteers from the militia 
of the difTerent counties. These men were held liable 
for duty when needed, not only in this, but in other 
states. In February, 1776, the Committee of Safety 
of New York called upon the Provincial Congress for 
a detachment of militia to assist in arresting Tories in 
Queens county, Long Island, Staten Island, New- 
York. Of the several hundred men ordered out for 
that purpose, Somerset county furnished one hundred 
(about three companies). Another detachment was 



21 

ordered out February 15, 1776, to proceed to New 
York. 

On June 3d, 1776, the Continental Congress called 
for thirteen thousand eight hundred militia, the quota 
of New Jersey being three thousand three hundred. 
Hunterdon county and Somerset furnished one of the 
five battalions required in the proportion of five com- 
panies from the last named county (Somerset). 

On July 1 6th, 1776, Congress requested the Con- 
vention of New Jersey to supply with militia the places 
of two thousand men of General Washington's army 
who had been ordered into New Jersey to form the 
flying camp. Somerset provided two companies of 
this call. 

Whether or not the companies of Colonel Quick's 
command were included for the duties above specified, 
has not been definitely determined, but it is presumed 
that they were, and the statement made by Captain 
Houston that his company needed more attention 
than he could afford to give it in the absence of Dr. 
Witherspoon from the College, would seem to show 
that it had been in active service during some of the 
above campaigns, and was likely to be soon again 
called into the field. 

The most interesting, as well as the most import- 
ant part of Houston's military experience, was, how- 
ever, during the Trenton and Princeton campaign. 

We have seen that Captain Houston resigned his 
commission August 17th, 1776. Within a very few 
weeks after this date all work at the College was 
abandoned, and the students, upon the approach of the 
British army, scattered in all directions. Dr. Wither- 



22 

Spoon, who had returned temporarily, and Houston 
were the last of the faculty to remain. It appears that 
Houston must have been immediately recommissioned 
a captain, for we find him, on November, 1776, again 
in a command of a militia company, in which several 
of the students were enlisted. 

One of these, w^hose name, unfortunately, is, at 
present, unknown to us, kept a journal of the campaign 
under Captain Houston, which is here given at length : 

A CAMPAIGN JOURNAL, 

From November 29, J 776, to May 6, 1777. 

On the 29th of November, 1776, New Jersey Col- 
lege, long the peaceful seat of science and haunt of the 
Muses, was visited with the melanclioly tidings of the 
approach of the enemy. 

This alarmed our fears and gave us reason to be- 
lieve we must soon bid adieu to our peaceful Depart- 
ments and break off in the midst of our delightful 
studies ; nor were we long held in suspense. Our worthy 
President deeply affected at this solemn scene, en- 
tered the hall where the students were collected, and in 
a very affecting manner informed us of the improba- 
bility of continuing there longer in peace ; and after giv- 
ing us several suitable instructions and much good ad- 
vice very affectionately bade us farewell. Solemnity 
and distress appeared almost in every countenance. 
Several students that had come five and six hundred 
miles, and just got settled in College, were now obliged 
under every disadvantage to return with their effects 
or leave them behind, which several, through the im- 
possibility of getting a carriage at so confused a time, 
were obliged to do, and lost their all. As all hopes of 
continuing longer in peace at Nassau were now taker 
away, I began to look out for some place where I might 



23 

pursue my stdies, and as Mr. J. Johnson had spoken to 
me to teach his son, I accordingly went there and 
agreed to stay with him till spring. Next day I sent 
my Trunk and Desk to his house and settled all my 
business at College. On Sunday evening Gen. Wash- 
ington retreated from Brunswick. I then went to 
Johnson's, and having now no hopes of remaining there 
was preparing to send my things farther out of the 
way, but we had not been long talking, before the 
press men came for Mr. Johnson's wagon and horses, 
and with much difficulty we put them ol^ for this time ; 
soon after they came again, when we had but little 
hopes of keeping the wagon and horses ; but knowing 
unless we got off our things while we had our wagons, 
they must necessarily fall into the Enemy's hands, 1 
took the opportunity while the press men were debat- 
ing with Mr. Johnson, and took the wagons out of th.^ 
stable and went ofi with them into the woods, and 
though they ran after me, they neither found me nor 
the horses. After they were gone we packed up our 
things, I carried them by hand to the woods where we 
had concealed the wagons. Near Daybreak we got 
all the things ready to move, and drove to Amwell, 
where we arrived a little before sundown. December 
3d I returned to John Drake's, where Mr. Johnson 
waited my return. The same day we rode to Prince- 
ton, and finding that part of our men made a stand 
there I returned to Drake's, hoping the Enemy would 
not advance farther than Brunswick. As I was un- 
Avell at this time, I staid at Drake's till Friday, 6th, then 
rode with Mr. Johnson to his house, staid all night ; 
next day, about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the Enemy 
came on towards Princeton, and had got as far as 
Kingston when we set off to Drake's house. In an 
hour and ^ after we left the house the Enemy were 
paraded before the door. Next day we went to Am- 
well and put up at Jacobus Johnson's. I continued 
here a week and was treated exceedingly kind. Wed- 



24 

nesday, December i8th, I went over the River to join 
Longstreet's Company, found the Company and came 
back to the River with them the next Day, thougli I had 
not joined. The sun set just as we marched from the 
River after crossing, I marched with them till some time 
after, then took the road to Johnson's, missed my way 
some miles, got home next day about ten in the morn- 
ing. Next day I went to near Princeton within half 
a mile of the Enemy, got a Gun and Accoutrements. 
As it was bad traveling I sprained my ankle this day. 

Next day, Sunday, I came back to Amwell, intend- 
ing on Monday to go over the River. But as the Am- 
well militia were at this time coming back over the 
River, I, through persuasion, staid and enlisted in the 
Amwell Battalion. December 24th, Went off immedi- 
ately with the scouting party, Capt. Houston's. Took 
our Lodgings in the neighborhood. My ankle was 
very painful and the bottoms of my feet blistered so 
as some times while walking to make me cry out. I 
went to bed after midnight, and before I was up nexr 
morning a large body of the Enemy from Princeton 
was in the neighborhood and by the house where I 
lay asleep ; but did not stop at it. As we sat down to 
breakfast, tidings of the Enemy came, they were plun- 
dering a neighboring house; eleven of us, as there 
were no more of our body near, went immediately after 
Ihem, but when we came to the house they had just 
gone. We then went to our main body and followed 
them to John Hunt's, from whence they had been gone 
^ an hour. In their march they took some of our men 
prisoners. We then came back to Parker's. It was 
a severe, stormy day, and I was very wet and lame, 
and having orders where to meet next day, I came 
through the storm to Jacobus Johnson's,' where I 
staid that night and felt better in the morning, and set 
off to meet the Company. Went to the old Meeting 
house, from whence most of the Battalions had just 
gone in Sleds. My ankle now grew very painful, stil! 



25 

I followed on two miles, and from there rode in a sleigh, 
six mile s to the Battalion. In the afternoon we 
marched lo miles around about road to the River. 
That night I lodged with part of the Company at Mr. 
Oakham's ; but my ankle was so swelled and painful 1 
could not march with them in the morning, and staid 
till I recruited. Being recovered, I set on Wednesday 
morning to look for the Battalion. Came that 
evening to Benjamin Johnson's, where part of the 
Company staid all nig'ht. Next morning, we marched 
to Penny Town, drew Rations and marched some miles 
further towards Trenton, and took Lodgings that 
night. Set out early next morning, towards Trenton, 
till sun ^ an hour high, when we heard the Engage- 
ment begin towards Princeton ; we then immediately 
marched back to Penny Town waiting some time for 
Intelligence. Made two or three movements and lay 
in wait sometime in the woods, for the Enemy; but 
they, having got intelligence of us by some Tory, re- 
turned another road, and so escaped us, we then came 
to Levy Hart's, took Lodgings, and cooked provisions. 
I laid about 3 hours with my blankets on cords. At 3 
o'clock, set out for Penny Town, after a round-about 
march we came to the field where the Battle was 
fought. Had a most dismal prospect of a number of 
pale mangled corpses, lying in the mud and blood. I 
felt gloomy at the awful scene. Returned in a rough, 
tedious march tO' Hopewell. Such unpleasant march- 
ing occasioned my ankle to swell again and grow pain - 
ful. I, this night staid at Thomas Drake's. Next day 
went with the Company to Penny Town to take some 
hides, &c., from Cochran's. Came back to Hopewell 
that night, next day to Hart's. In the evening set ofif 
again with a party to Penny Town, I was pilot to lead 
them the nighest way through the woods, got in about 
bed time. I lodged this night at Mrs. Hamilton's, the 
rest of the Batallion came in next day. We were here 
employed to take care of the Stores taken from the 



26 

Enemy. I was appointed to take care of a Lieut. 
wounded in the late action, tended him till Friday 
night, when he died. The night we received orders to 
march to join Gen. Washington. Most of this Battal- 
lion went off early next morning. I was appointed 
Lieut, (protempore) to take some prisoners to Tren- 
ton. Had orders to press 2 waggons and horse to 
ride. Set off with 4 men for my Guard. Took 10 
regulars, 2 Hessians, and two Tories, delivered them 
to Major Vance at Trenton. Returned the same night 
towards Amwell with my Guards and horse next day 
(Sunday) came to Jacobus Johnson's, staid all night, 
came next day to Flemingtown where the Company 
had orders to meet. Lodged at John Hevilon's. 
Next day in the afternoon we marched from Fleming- 
town to Reddingtown ; but here we met with an Ex- 
press from G. W. ordering us to go towards Bound- 
brook along Raritan, and took our lodgings about Di- 
ken's Mills. Next morning marched on to the place 
appointed. Our Company took Lodging at Mr. Sam- 
uel Queman's on Thursday, Jan. 16. Here we con- 
tinued until Saturday, i8th ; we were then obliged 
to move our Quarters to give place to the Light horse 
and took our Quarters at Mr. Van Nostrand's. Staid 
here in peace till Monday morning, we then received an 
Alarm and were ordered to march to Boundbrook, 
we arrived there between 11 and 12, then hearing thai 
the Enemy was plundering at Millstone, we immedi- 
ately marched for that place, being joined by a consid- 
erable body at Boundbrook, we marched on till we 
passed Raritan Bridge, hearing several Cannon fired, 
while on the way. After crossing the Bridge, the Bat- 
tallion I was in was taken off for the left wing, I cross- 
ed Millstone, some distance below the Bridge, wading 
through the water, more than knee deep. We imme- 
diately marched towards the road, and fired upon the 
Baggage Guard, who were retreated that way. They 
immediately left horses, wagons and plunder, and re- 
tired with the greatest precipitation. The main body 



2^ 

of the Enemy lay just over south of the Bridge. Be- 
fore we crossed the River below, our main Body began 
the Attack at the Bridge with one Field piece and made 
the Enemy give way. They continued their fire upon 
the Enemy some time. Our wing, after driving the 
Baggage Guard, pursued on and flanked the Enemy. 
After a short engagement, finding ourselves greatly 
overpowered with numbers, we received General Or- 
ders to retreat, having had i man killed and 2 wounded, 
and we had taken 2 of the Enemy prisoners. We then 
retreated back to the River, lest our retreat should be 
cut ofif. But finding the Enemy did not pursue, we 
rallied again, with as many of our men as we could col- 
lect, and marched on towards the Enemy the second 
time ; but when we came in sight of them, they got 
possession of an eminence in the end of a clear Field, 
with one or more Field pieces and poured down their 
Grape shot upon us briskly. Then finding it in vain 
to attack them with our little Body under so great a 
disadvantage, we immediately retreated back and most 
of our men went over the River up into a clear field, 
to where our main Body had by this time collected. 
They all formed again, and came round over the 
Bridge, to take off the plunder. While the main Body 
were there forming and coming round, 6 of us that 
remained, thinking our main Body was quite gone off, 
set to taking off the Baggage wagons by hand, down 
to the River. We had got off 2 with a great number 
of Bags, Chains, &c., and were going back for the 3d 
when our main body came up, and soon took off the re- 
mainder. We then all came off with our plunder, to 
Head Quarters. In this Engagement I could learn 
of but 3 men killed, besides wounded and prisoners. 
Though the Enemy had laid their scheme well to get 
a great quantity of plunder, yet fortunate for us, they 
were sadly disappointed. They sent 400 men in the 
morning to Boundbrook, to decoy our army from 
their other party who were plundering at Millstone, 
that they might have time to get off their plunder, Af- 



38 

ter showing themselves a short time at Bound brook, 
they went off, but where I have not heard. 

Our army got so timely to Millstone that by what 
I can learn we got ^ of the Enemy's wagons, and 
plunder ; we took several of their English wagons, and 
others, likewise a great number of new Sacks of wheat, 
flour, meat, Horses, Cattle, sheep. Hay and several 
other Articles, which we found scattered every way 
along the streets and through the Vi'oods, where they 
had thrown them away, in their haste. Some of the^r 
horses, in the fright, run their wagons against trees, 
broke through their gears and got off. Tuesday, next 
morning about lo o'clock, we were again alarmed and 
our men marched towards Boundbrook, and after each 
party had exchanged a few Cannon shot, went off. 
Our men all came home without receiving the least 
damage ; but we heard afterwards that one of our Can- 
non shot killed four of the enemy. Another party of 
the Enemy that day took a considerable quantity of 
plunder from near Millstone. The remainder of this 
week, we lay undisturbed in our quarters. Sunday, 
Jan. 26th, in the afternoon, we were alarmed and march- 
ed down to Raritan Bridge, then hearing the Alarm 
w^as false, we marched back again to Quarters. The 
cause of this Alarm was that some of our out Guard 
had fired upon a small party of Hessians, who had 
come ('tis thought) to disturb them. After this Alarm 
we remained quiet in our Quarters till Wednesday, 
Feb. 5th, having no other duty to attend but the Gen- 
eral's and the Ammunition Guard. This night we 
were ordered to march at 11 o'clock with the rest of 
Gen. Dikinson's Brigade and went within ^ mile of the 
Enemy's Quarters. The roads were now excessively 
muddy, so that we were over Shoes in mud and water ; 
but towards morning it grew very cold and froze veri 
hard. The design of this march was to take off the 
horses, wagons, fat Cattle and Sheep from the inhabit- 
ants to prevent the Enemy from getting any advantage 



29 

of them. We g-ot off a quantity of these Articles, and 
marched back (the road being now frozen hard) to 
Head Quarters. When we got home most of us were 
wearied and stiff, and our feet sore. We took some re- 
freshments and rested about 2 hours, I being very 
weary and drowsy, had laid down and got in a sound 
sleep, when we were again alarmed to go and meet the 
Enemy, who were advancing towards Raritan. We 
immediately marched down to Raritan Bridge and 
there waited till our light horse came in, who brought 
us word that the Enemy had been up as far as Cov- 
hoven's, had taken and destroyed a great quantity of 
grain and hay, drove off a great number of Cattle and 
were gone back. We then all came back to Quarters, 
and rested in peace that night. Saturday, Feb. 8th, 
while we were parading in the morning we were alarm- 
ed and ordered to march immediately to Raritan 
Bridge, where we soon arrived, and marched to near 
Millstone, then meeting the main Body of our men re- 
turning we marched back to the Bridge, and waited 
for some orders. While we lay here, we heard several 
Cannons fired towards Boundbrook, as we thought. 
Our General and some of the light horse were gone 
that way for intelligence, when they returned we were 
ordered to march down and cross Millstone. After we 
had crossed it near ^ a mile, we got intelligence by the 
Brigade Major that Gen. Warner with his Brigade was 
engaged with a party of the Enemy (in which he 
thought himself a sufficient match) at the pines 2 miles 
below Boundbrook. We then returned to the Bridge 
where we were dismissed. It now began to rain, and 
we arrived wet and weary at Quarters, about Dusk. 
General Warner's party, this day, killed 4 of the 
Enemy, without receiving any damage on his own side. 
After this several Skirmishes happened near Quible 
Town and Woodbridge, between our people posted 
near these places and some Foraging parties of the 
Enemy ; but our troops along the Raritan lay for some 



30 

considerable time undisturbed with little apprehension 
of an attack from the Enemy, as we were pretty strong'. 
But as a considerable number of the New England 
Troops, who lay at Boundbrook, had completed their 
time by the I2th of March, refused to stay longer; and 
marched immediately home, we were left very 
naked and much exposed to the Enemy, who (we had 
the great reason to believe) would make a sudden ex- 
cursion to some part of our Quarters, as they were 
very much in want of Forage, and the drying weather 
now very much favoring such a design. We accord 
ingly kept ourselves in constant readiness to meet 
them, whenever they should come out, the General hav- 
ing in the orders of the 19th of March addressed the 
Officers and Soldiers very spiritedly and politely on 
that occasion. Gen. Dickinson left us March 15, after 
having politely returned his thanks to the Officers in 
his Brigade for their spirited conduct, and cheerful 
compliance with his Orders. Gen. Heard took his 
place i6th of March. Under Gen. Heard's Command 
we remained peaceable for some time, our Guards pay- 
ing the strictest attention to their Duty, by which 
means several disaflfected persons were taken up, who 
would otherwise have done much mischief. As the 
discharging of the N. England Troops left an im- 
portant pass very naked (an advantage the Enemy 
would doubtless avail themselves of if not prevented) 
our Battallion was ordered to march down and take 
post 2 miles below Boundbrook (the 4th of April), 
there to supply a picket Guard just upon our lines, not 
far from the Enemy's pickets. About this time our 
new relief was coming in. Our Quarters tolerably 
good, but our Duty very hard. At this time all the 
Troops in town did not exceed 300. In this state we 
continued undisturbed till Sunday, 13, when early in 
the morning we received a very sudden and unfortu- 
nate attack from the Enemy ; they came up ('tis 
thought) near 3,000 strong, in 2 Divisions, the one 



31 

coming the main road from Brunswick to Boundbrook, 
and after a short firing, drove our picket stationed on 
that road ; the other came up the south side of the Rar- 
itan and by the help of pilots came (undiscovered by 
our Guards) a considerable distance above the Town, 
then forded the River and marched down the road to 
the General Quarters. The General fortunately es- 
caped, with only the clothes on his back ; they imme- 
diately plundered the house ; took our 3 field pieces 
from before the door, and most of the Artillerymen, 
then drew their Left wing to northward of the upper 
part of the Town, in order to surround it : the other 
party had by this time gone up to the lower end of the 
Town, and had some time kept up a warm fire upon 
our men, in the half-moon Battery, who behaved 
with great spirit, not knowing that the Enemy had 
possession of the upper part of the Town. After a 
short firing the Enemy drew their right wing by hill, 
forded the Millstone, some distance above, then march- 
ed up back of the Town in order to join the left wing 
of the party from the upper part of the Town, and 
thereby to have the whole Town surrounded, but for- 
tunately for us, before their wings eflfected this junc- 
tion, our Troops in the Battery received orders to re- 
treat, which they did with the loss of only 3 or 4 killed, 
and as many wounded, and escaped to the mountain. 
As our Battallion lay some distance from the Town, 
below the mountain, we did not receive the alarm till 
the Enemy had got possession of the Town. We im- 
mediately' mustered and marched towards the Town, 
till we came in sight of the Enemy, at one of our Bat- 
teries, then finding we were too late to help our men 
in the Town (if they had been there) we marched 
along under the mountain towards the upper part of th-.^ 
Town, when we fell in with Gen. Lincoln, and the 
Troops that had returned from the Town, and we all 
marched together to the top of the mountain, then di- 
vided to secure 2 passes in the mountain. As the 



32 

enemy had not yet reached our Quarters, 12 of us 
came down in sight of them, and brought oflf our Bag- 
gage. We had not lain long on the mountain before 
the Enemy all left the Town. We then marched into 
the Town, and staid 2 hours without taking Quarters, 
when 2 Battallions of enlisted Troops came in, and 
brought 2 Field pieces with them. We then put out 
strong Guards, the rest went to Queenston. In this 
Skirmish we lost 5 or 6 killed, 4 wounded, and between 
30 or 40 prisoners ; 3 Field pieces, and considerable 
baggage. 4 of the inhabitants of the town were 
killed. After this we remained peaceable for some 
time. 

April 26th Our Battallion was ordered to march 
to Morristown to join Gen. Heard, who had marched 
with part of his Brigade 2 days before. When we 
came to Morris, we were ordered on to Pompton. 
where Gen. Heard was stationed. We marched on 
some distance from the Town and took Lodgings. 
Next morning proceeded on to Pompton, arrived there 
near sunset, took Lodgings, then were ordered, next 
morning, to Paranuis. Drew provisions and ammuni- 
tion and got some miles on this day. Next day, Tues- 
day, April 29th, about 10 o'clock we arrived at Para- 
mus, took Lodgings near the Church. I lay with part 
of the Battallion at Mr. Bogert's. This day moved to 
Capt. Hopper's, this day sent out a Scout, who had a 
small Skirmish with the new recruits, and returned 
next day, Sunday, May 4th, our times being up, we set 
out for home, Arrived on Monday, about 10 o'clock 
at Morristown, where I staid, and the Battallion con- 
tinued homewards. On Thursday, I set out on horse- 
back to Flemington, Robinson's Ferry, Amwell and 
Princeton, and returned on Tuesday to Morristown. 
I staid at my Mother's waiting for the Company till 
Friday, then set out on foot, and travelled to Pomp- 
ton, where I waited for the men till Saturday night, 
when they came in ; I then took charge of them, this 



33 

being- the 17th day of May. We continued at Pomp- 
ton at Mr. Bartolofs till May 27th, having had our 
Company and Capt. McCtillough's joined into a party. 
Then we were ordered down to Paramus. The Com- 
pany set off this day; but as the Brigade Major had 
gone home 4 or 5 days, I was appointed to serve in his 
place till his return. On the 28th the Major returned, 
and the 29th I went to Paramus, found the Company 
stationed beyond the Guards. On Sunday we were 
removed within Guards to Sebriske's, this day being 
the 1st of June, Col. Frelinghuysen came to this place, 
and took the Command, in the room of Col. Steward, 
who was at this time ill with the small Pox. Col. Fre- 
linghuysen commands this post till June 19th, in which, 
time we had several Scouts towards Bergen, and took 
several articles from the Tories and some of them were 
disarmed. On the loth day of June, 210 of the Green 
coats (though our first accounts were more than three 
times that number) came up to Hackensack. We soon 
got the word of it, and sent down our Light horse, who 
exchanged a few shots with them, and returned. This 
we were told afterwards put the Enemy in great con- 
sternation. When our Light horse returned the Of- 
ficers went to consult what was best to be done, and 
as we had but few men, it was agreed we should make 
a feint retreat, which we did, about 10 o'clock in the 
Evening, in such a manner that the whole neighbor- 
hood thought we were actually retreating. We had 
agreed to march towards Pompton, then take a by 
road, and proceed within 4 miles of Hackensack, to 
an advantageous station, where by an Express we had 
requested Gen. Heard to meet us, with his party from 
Pompton ; but the road was so exceedingly rough, the 
night dark with rain, thunder and lightning, that we 
got not so far as expected. We took shelter for this 
night in a large Barn ; In the morning, as Gen. Heard 
did not join us, and as near 100 of our men's times 
were out. who now refused to march down and meet 



34 

the Enem)^ we were obliged, being but an inconsider- 
able handful, to march back again, to our Station, 
where we arrived about ii o'clock. June I2th We 
marched our little Body down to Hackensack, think- 
ing some of those Green Coats might be lurking about, 
not far from that place, waiting for an opportunity to 
attack us^ which we were resolved this day to give 
them, if they were there. We marched from Hacken- 
sack to the new Bridge, and took Quarters this night. 
At 2 o'clock in the morning we all marched off to Para- 
mus. Sunday, June 15th, We sent out a Scout of 
about 30 men, down to the English Neighborhood, 
having had strait intelligence that the green Coats 
were to be this night in those parts, express horses, 
wagons, &c. The Scout having taken 2 Tories, ar- 
rived there the same night. Next morning at 10 
o'clock as they were fixing them with the Guards ready 
to march home to Quarters, they were fired upon by a 
party of the Enemy which was so sudden and unex- 
pected that it threw them into confusion, and although 
the 2 Officers behaved with the greatest activity and 
spirit, it was impossible to recover them and form 
them in rank, and well it was they did not, for, had 
they not escaped as they did, they would in a few min • 
utes have been all surrounded. Several of our men 
fired, and it was thought did some execution, 3 of our 
men were missing, till 2 days afterwards, when they 
all returned. Monday, June i6th. We received Orders 
to march our whole Battallion to Pompton where we 
arrived, about 9 o'clock in the Evening. At Pompton 
we staid 2 days. This day, June 19th, we received 
Orders to march down to the lines. We marched at 
Sunrise, and took Quarters this night, below Morris- 
town ; Next day, came in to Bullion's Tavern, where 
we took Quarters, waiting Orders. The Enemy had, 
some days before this, removed from Brunswick to 
Millstone, near the Court house, and it was thought 
would make an attempt for Philadelphia; This roused 
the Militia of all the neighboring counties, and they 



\ 



35 

turned out with such spirit as will do them honor to 
the latest ages. Never did the Jerseys appear more 
imiversally unanimous to oppose the Enemy ; they 
turned out Old and young, great and small, Rich and 
poor ; Scarcely a man that could carry a musket was 
left at home. This soon struck a panic into the Enemy, 
for they could scarcely stir from their Camp, but they 
were cut off. They then fled with the greatest haste 
to Brunswick ; but the Militia pursued them so closely 
and so warmly, that they made no stay here. On Sun- 
day morning, June 22d, they were driven out of the 
Town, and chased near to Amboy by the spirited Mi- 
litia in conjunction with a small party of the English 
Troops. The Enemy, when they left Millstone and 
Brunswick, burnt several houses, strangled almost to 
death 2 or 3 women, and behaved in the most cruel, 
barbarous manner. After the Enemy where driven 
from Brunswick, our Army took possession of the 
Town, and such of the Militia as were called out upon 
this Alarm, were discharged. Wednesday, June 25th, 
part of Militia at Bullion's Tavern were discharged 
and part ordered to march next day for Pompton, 
which they did. Thursday, June 26th, the Enemy 
came out with their wdiole Body from Amboy and pro- 
ceeded to Westfield, where they plundered and de- 
stroyed every thing before them, and distressed the In- 
habitants in a manner before unheard of, but before 
they returned to Amboy numbers of them were cut off 
by part of our Army, and some Militia. They return- 
ed to Amboy, and on Monday Evening, June the 30th, 
1777, they all left Amboy and went to Staten Island. 

The foregoing narrative gives an interesting ac- 
count of the duties performed by the New Jersey Mi- 
litia preceding and subsequent to the battles of Tren- 
ton and Princeton, and indicates that Captain Hous- 
ton's Company was on the right flank of Washington's 



36 

army at the latter battle, arriving on the field, however, 
when the British were in full retreat. 

A better understanding of some statements in the 
journal will be assisted by the following brief, but 
clear and very accurate account of the battle of Prince- 
ton, by Francis B. Lee: 

"Washington," writes Lee, "not only to lend en- 
couragement to the reviving spirits of his countrymen, 
but likewise to pursue his advantage, recrossed the 
river at McKonkeys Ferry in advance of the troops, 
and entered Trenton. Until January 2d, 1777, 
in that village, his headquarters were in the house of 
loyalist Major John Barnes, near the Assanpink 
Creek. Fearing the advance of the British from New 
Brunswick, he moved to the True American Inn on 
the south side of the stream. Upon its banks he con- 
centrated his troops, a delay having been caused by 
floating ice rendering their passage extremely difficult 
and fatiguing. The Pennsylvania Militia, under Gen- 
erals Mifflin and Cadwalader having crossed the Del- 
aware, Mififlin with eighteen hundred men was posted 
at Bordentown, while Cadwalader, with an equal num- 
ber of soldiers occupied Crosswicks. 

In the meantime General Cornwallis, joining 
General Grant at New Brunswick, left that town with 
eight thousand troops, whose advance was met by 
General Fermoy taking position at Five Mile Run on 
the first day of the year 1777. Upon the second day 
Cornwallis forced back this detachment as well as 
troops sent to support the slowly retreatingAmericans. 

Fighting desperately between Lawrenceville and 
Trenton, the Militia and line were driven to the rising 



37 

ground south of Assanpink Creek, which the British 
did not attempt to cross. Had they done so Wash- 
ington and his army would have been scattered 
through the southern portion of New Jersey, as the 
Delaware was impassable by reason of ice, 

A council of war called that night in the Douglass 
mansion was one of the most eventful in the history of 
the Revolution. To turn the left flank of the enemy, 
strike a blow at the small garrison at Princeton, and 
seize the British stores at New Brunswick was decided 
upon. By increasing his guards and perfecting his 
defences the American commander made a feint of pro- 
tecting his position at all hazards. Suddenly at mid- 
night of the 3d of January Washington, having bright- 
ened his campfires, marched eastward to Allentown and 
towards Cranbury. Thence moving across the coun- 
try, early morning found the Americans directly south 
of Princeton, General Washington having detailed 
General Mercer to destroy the Stony Brook bridge, 
breaking communication with Trenton. 

The British garrison at Princeton was small, con- 
sisting of the Seventeenth, Fortieth, and Fifty-fifth 
Regiments and three companies of light horse. In 
obedience to commands the Seventeenth and Fifty- 
fifth, the Seventeenth being under the command of 
Charles Mawhood, had left Princeton to re-enforce 
Cornwallis at Trenton. 

Mercer failing to destroy the bridge, Mawhood 
had passed over Stony Brook unaware that Mercer 
lay upon his flank and rear. Discovering his situa- 
tion, Colonel Mawhood turned his troops toward 



38 

Princeton, and a short but decisive struggle took place 
for control of the rising land east of the stream. 

Charged by British bayonets the Militia retreated 
through an orchard, leaving upon the field their gal- 
lant commander. General Mercer, mortally wounded, 
stabbed with seventeen thrusts. 

Here, however, Mawhood found himself in the 
face of the American army, where unable to hold his 
position the British retreated toward Princeton. Mak- 
ing but a feeble show of resistance in the town, and oc- 
cupying for a brief time Nassau Hall, the main build- 
ing of the College of New Jersey, the British regiments, 
thoroughly disorganized, sought safety in flight 
across the Millstone towards New Brunswick. 
The Seventeenth Regiment was also scattered, and the 
Stony Brook bridge was destroyed as the rear guard 
of Cornwallis, which had heard the firing at Maiden- 
head, appeared." 

Although Houston was disappointed in not taking 
an active part in the battle of Princeton, coming on the 
field at three o'clock in the afternoon, it appears 
from the journal that his company was afterwards, on 
several occasions, actively engaged with the enemy, 
and the company also, for a time, served as General 
Washington's Headquarters guard whilst at Morns- 
town. 

In addition to his service in the field, Houston 
was, during a considerable period of the Revolution, 
a member of the Council of Safety of New Jersey, is 
mentioned as being present at many of its most im- 
portant meetings, and for a time served as Treasurer 
of that body. 



DEPUTY SECRETARY AND MEMBER OF 
THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. 

The enlistment of Captain Houston's company in 
the service of the United States expired March 6th, 
1777, but many of the company appear to have re- 
mained in the service of the State for a longer period, 
and, therefore, probably volunteered to serve three 
months longer. Houston, however, returned to civil 
life almost immediately after the date of the expiration 
of the first period of enlistment, although there was, 
doubtless, a delay of some days in making up his mus- 
ter rolls and turning over his command. 

On March 22d, 1777, Congress ordered that a Sec- 
retary's office be established, and also the office of 
Deputy Secretar}% the latter to receive a salary of 
eight hundred dollars per year. There were also to 
be clerks appointed, as assistants to the Secretary and 
Deputy Secretar}^ as need might be, at a salary of four 
hundred and eight dollars per year. 

Upon the 25th day of March, 1777, Congress 
"proceeded to the election of a Deputy Secretary, and 
the ballots being taken, Mr. William Churchill Hous- 
ton was elected." 

It was provided by the Act that the "Secretary, 
Deputy Secretary were to well and faithfully to ex- 
ecute the trust reposed in them, in their respective 
capacities, according to their best skill and judgment, 
and to disclose no matter, the knowledge of which 



40 

shall be acquired in consequence of such their office, 
and which they shall be directed to keep secret." 

The position thus entrusted to Houston was one 
of the greatest importance, and a very large part of 
the correspondence usually accredited to Thomson 
must during the time Houston held the office have 
passed through his hands. 

Charles Thomson was first chosen Secretary of 
the Continental Congress in the month of Septem- 
ber, 1774, Peyton Randolph being at that time Presi- 
dent, and he continued to hold that office until the 
end. The Congress which originally appointed him, 
however, always held the foremost place in his affec- 
tions, and it was his firm opinion, often expressed, 
that as years rolled around the body degenerated. Of 
Thomson's estimate of the first Congress, there can be 
little comment, and he is supported in his judgment 
by no less a keen observer than the great Pitt, who 
wrote : 

"I must declare and avow, that in all my reading 
and study — and it has been my favorite study : I have 
read Thucydides, and have studied and admired the 
master Statesy of the world, — that for solidity of rea- 
soning, force of sagacity, and wisdom of conclusions, 
under such a complication of circumstances, no 
other nation or body of men can stand in preference to 
the General Congress at Philadelphia." 

''No longer," says Thomson, "did America exhibit 
the appearance of rival colonies, piquing themselves 
on separate rights, and boasting the relative advan- 
tages of different charters, and different constitutions ; 
all such sentiments were buried in oblivion." 



4' 

At the time of Houston's appointment as Deputy 
Secretary, an element of the Congress of 1775 remain- 
ed, but it was even then fast deteriorating. 

Of the respective duties of the Secretary and Dep- 
uty Secretary some uncertainty exists. Dr. Frieden- 
wsld, however, has given us a very clear account of 
the personal work of Charles Thomson. 

"The Journals of Congress, with some very few 
exceptions, are entirely in the handwriting of Thom- 
son. He seems to have been present at every ses- 
sion. The series of the archives of Congress very 
properly begins with what he termed the 'Rough 
Journal,' beginning with the proceedings of September 
5th, 1774, and ended with the entry of March 2, 1789, 
and was probably written while Congress was sitting, 
the entries being made directly after each vote was 
taken. It is contained in thirty-nine small foolscap 
volumes. The second of the series is a fair copy of the 
Rough Journal from September 5, 1775, to January 
2d, 1779, in ten volumes folio. From this copy it is 
stated in a record in the Bureau the Journals were 
printed ; and such portions as were deemed secret were 
marked or crossed by a committee of Congress — not 
to be transcribed. This explanation will account for 
the two Public Journals. The Rough Journal should 
be regarded as the standard. There is also the secret 
Domestic Journal, "1775 to 1787," and others. It will 
be seen from the above that the Journals of Congress 
were kept by Thomson personally, and by him tran- 
scribed ; but the nature of his other work detail, from 
1774 to 1884, can only be conjectured. Even Harley, 
after a most careful search, has given us but a few 
pages to cover this part of Thomson's life. 



4i2 

Of the nature of Houston's duties whilst Deputy 
Secretary a little clearer glimpse has been aflforded us. 

Among his labors was the transmission of the 
resolutions of Congress to the several States, and to 
individuals, and of these a number bearing his sig- 
nature as Deputy Secretary of Congress, of which one 
addressed to General Washington, are extant.* 



*The following instances of William Churchill Houston's ser- 
vices as Deputy Secretary of Congress, are noted, as indicating 
some of the duties performed by him whilst in holding that of- 
fice. 

Saturday afternoon, 14 June, 1777. 
Sir:— 

Am directed by Congress to transmit you the enclosed reso- 
lution of this day, and 
have the honor to be 
with all respect, 
Your most obedt. 
h'ble servant, 

WILLIAM CH. HOUSTON. 
Directed, 

His Excellency the President, of The, Hon'ble the Vice Presi- 
dent of Council, State Pennsylvania. 

RESOLUTION OF CONGRESS, 1777. 

In Congress, 14 June, 1777. 
RESOLVED, 

That Major General Arnold be authorized to take upon him 
the command of all the militia now at Bristol and on every other 
part of the River Delaware to the Eastward of Philadelphia, 
which have been called forth into service by a requisition of the 
twenty-fourth day of April last, and that he be authorized to dis- 
pose of himself, and the troops under his command in such a 
manner as he shall deem best adapted to promote the publick 
service. 
ORDERED, 

That a Copy of this Resolution be sent to the President and 
Supreme Executive Council of the State of Pennsylvania for their 
concurrence. 

Copy from the Journals of Congress. 

WILLI A.M CH. HOUSTON, Dep. Sec. 
PENNSYLVANIA ARCHIVES, 1st SerieB. 
Vol. 5, page 492-3. 

In Congress, 29 July, 1777. 
RESOLVED, 

That an enquiry be made into the reasons of the evacuation 
of Ticonderoga and Mount Independence, and into the conduct of 
the General -officers who were In the Northern department at the 
time of the evacuation. 



43 

He had charge, also, of a great part, if not at one 
time almost all, of the correspondence on particular do- 



That a committee be appointed to digest and report the mode 
of conducting the enquiry. 

JULY 30. 
RESOLVED, 

That Major-General St. Clair, who commanded at Tlconderoga 
and Mount Independence, forthwith repair to Head-quarters. 

AUGUST 1. 
RESOLVED, 

That Major-General Schuyler be directed to repair to Head- 
quarters. 

That General Washington be directed to order such General- 
officer as he may think proper, immediately to repair to the 
northern department, to relieve Major-general Schuyler in his 
command there. 

That Brigadier Poor, Brigadier Patterson, and Brigadier 
Roche de Fermoy be directed to repair to Head-quarters. 

AUGUST 3. 
RESOLVED, 

That General Washington be directed to order the General 
whom he shall judge proper to relieve General Schuyler in his 
command, to repair, with all possible expedition, to the northern 
department, giving him directions what number of the Militia to 
call in from the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, 
Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 

That notice be immediately sent to the Executive powers of 
the said States, and that they be earnestly requested to get the 
Militia in those parts of their respective States most contiguous 
to the northern department, ready to march at a moment's warn- 
ing; and to send, with all possible expedition, such parts of them 
as the General commanding in the northern department may re- 
quire, to serve till the 15th of November if not sooner relieved 
by continental troops, or dismissed by the commanding officer of 
the department, and be entitled to continental pay and rations. 

That the commanding officer in the northern department 
have discretionary power to make requisitions on the states afore- 
said, from time to time, for euch additional numbers of the Mili- 
tia to serve in that department as he shall judge necessary for 
the public service. 

Whereas it is represented to Congress that General Washing- 
ton is of opinion that the immediate recall of all the Brigadiers 
from the northern department, may be productive of inconveni- 
ence to the public service, 
RESOLVED, 

That the order of Congress of the first day of this month re- 
specting the said Brigadiers, be suspended until General Wash- 
ington shall judge it may be carried into effect with safety. 
Copy from the Journals. 

WILLIAM CH. HOUSTON, D. Sec. 
By order of Congress, 

JOHN HANCOCK, Pres't. 



44 

mestic subjects, and of the printing in the newspapers 
of such information of an interesting and encouraging 
nature, as it was deemed wise by Congress to be made 
pubHc. It also appears that for a time he had par- 
tial charge of the printing of the Journals themselves. 
He was thus actively engaged in the affairs of Con- 
gress in the Fall of 1777, and he accompanied that 
body in its hasty flight when Cornwallis moved upon 
Philadelphia from the head of Chesapeake Bay. 

Like Thomson, Houston preserved none, or very 
few, of his public papers. That his duties as Deputy 
Secretary were many and miscellaneous, and that they 
were faithfully and satisfactorily performed, we know, 
but of much of their detail we are, and will always, 
perhaps, remain entirely ignorant. 

The winter of 1778 found Houston again at his 
post as Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philos- 
ophy at Princeton, but he was serving as Deputy Sec- 
retary of Congress in December, 1778, and in this 
year he was elected to the Assembly of New Jersey,* 
and was re-elected the following year. 

STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

Copies of Resolutions of Congreea, etc., signed by William 
Churchill Houston, as Deputy Secretary, are to be found in Penn- 
sylvania Archives, First Series, Vol. 5, pages 283-286 (April 1st to 
7th, 1777), page No. 359 (June 11th, 1777), page 367 (June 14th, 
1777), page 493 (July 29th, 1777), page 494 (Aug. 4th, 1777), page 
513 (Aug. 12, 1777), page 527 (Aug. 15th, 1777), and page 575 (Sept. 
3, 1777). There is also extant a document so signed as late as 
December, 1778. 

♦Letter from John Witherspoon to William Churchill Hous- 
ton, whilst the latter was serving in the Legislature: 

Philadelphia, Sept. 16, 1778. 

Dear Sir:— Receive enclosed an extract from the minutes of 
Congress relating to New Jersey. We have not copied the reso- 
lution itself as you must have it. I believe there is not another 
state which has its sense in its own words ou the records of 
Congress the most having generally had only instructions to their 



45 

Here he exhibited that energy and patriotism 
in pubHc affairs which ever marked his career, and he 
began to give especial attention to the monetary con- 
dition of the country, then beginning to become alarm- 
ing, even to the most sanguine. His disinterested 
zeal for the success of the American cause, and his 
unshaken conviction of a final successful issue of the 
conflict, attracted to him the attention of many of the 
leading men of his day, whose friendship he continued 
to enjoy during the remainder of his life. 

William Churchill Houston's career in the Conti- 
nental Congress commenced at Philadelphia, Friday, 
July 9th, 1779, he having been duly elected for that 
year. The Journals of Congress state that on Friday, 
July 9th, 1779, Mr. Houston, a delegate for New Jersey, 
attended and produced the credentials of his appoint- 
ment, which were read. He took his seat the same day, 
and voted in the affirmative to a resolution "That the 
executive powers of each state be earnestly requested 
instantly to make the strictest inquiry into the conduct 
of every person within such state respectively em- 
ployed.'"' 

From this time on he was most regular in his at- 
tendance, and took a leading and very active part m 
all proceedings of that body, serving on many import- 
members. I have no news. It begine to be believed that the 
enemy are to leave New York and it is thought to be with a view 
of going to the West Indiee. The arrival of the August Packet 
alone will make that definitely certain. My compliments to Mrs. 
Houston. 

I am, dear eir, your most obedient and humble servant, 

JNO. WITHERSPOON. 

Endorsed on the back: 
To 

Willm. C. Houston, Esq., 
Princeton. 



46 

ant committees, notably War, Foreign Affairs, the 
Postal Service and Finance. In the latter subject he 
was especially interested, and he was most careful to 
transmit, from time to time, to the Governor of his 
State detailed accounts of those public matters, which, 
to use his own words, were "the most material occur- 
rences in the progress of business of Congress." Of 
these letters, those which have been preserved extend 
from October 5th, 1779, to June 5th, 1780, and are all 
addresed to Livingston. 
They are here given in full : 

To Governor Livingston: 

Philadelphia, October 5th, 1779. 

Sir : I am sorry that it has not been in my power 
to command as much time as I should have wished to 
employ in giving a distinct account to the legislature 
of the most material occurrences in the progress of 
business since I came to Congress. 

It is certainly the duty of every person in public 
trust to make those from whom he derives his appoint- 
ment acquainted with the manner in which he exe- 
cutes it, that they may be able to decide how far he ful- 
fils or deceives their expectations, and to form, at any 
time, a clear estimate of his character. Next to want 
of fidelity I look upon the neglect of giving due infor- 
mation to his constituents, the greatest crime in a pub- 
lic man. 

The principal intention of this is to point at a 
question, which, from accidental circumstances, has 
acquired a magnitude and importance above what, 
simply considered, it was entitled to. 

A question which has excited much inveteracy 
and ill-blood in Congress, and not a few speculations 
and suspicions abroad. I mean the recall, or rather 



47. 

the suppression of Mr. Arthur Lee, Commissioner of 
the United States at the Court of Madrid. 

I have carefully read over the papers and attended 
to every feasible means of unbiased information rela- 
tive to this question, and I tliink I have done it with a 
temper divested of prejudice. The result is this : I 
take Mr. Arthur Lee to be a man of jealous and sus- 
pecting, difficult disposition ; trusty, capable and in- 
dustrious. Indefatigable above others in procuring 
and transmitting intelligence; accurate and frugal in 
expenses and money matters ; simple, severe, and re- 
publican in his manners, so much so as to be thought 
by many sour and inimical. This I take to be his 
character ; and in many essentials I am not afraid tc 
call him equal to any person Congress ever employed 
in a similar capacity in Europe. The story hawked 
about that his indiscretions prevented the Court of 
Spain from treating with him I cannot think believed 
by those who propagate it, as that conduct in the Span- 
ish ministry is ascribable to different reasons which 
must strike every person at once who has the least 
knowledge of the state of matters as they respected 
that power. But admitting he was the best qualified 
and most meritorious man on earth, is it not my duty 
to vote for removing him when the funds of Congress 
are absolutely wasted, and the public business is not 
only retarded but stopped by unavailing altercations 
concerning an individual ? 

When a general ofifers up a forlorn hope to save 
an army, the alternative is dreadful ; but the principle is 
defensible and the practice of it often necessary. 

I confess that in a republic, where approbation, 
honor, and praise, more than money and emoluments, 
are the reward of faithful services, such things ought 
to be admitted with reluctance and caution ; yet still 
they may not be always avoidable. But, further, 
should it turn out to be a fact, that France was doubt- 
ful of him and that Spain hestitated, it mattered not 



48 

how good a man he was, one every way inferior, if 
free from such exception, would have been preferable 
for the purpose of treating. 

The real cause of delay being now removed, it is 
to be hoped the gentleman who succeeds Mr. Lee 
will be successful. As I would ever wish to be simply 
just, but at the same time to do what is best, all things 
considered, I have no other request than that this state 
of facts may be remembered another day, when time 
will throw light upon what is now dark, prejudice will 
be extinct, and the means of judging fairly will come 
within the reach of all. Into what course of conduct, 
or to what lengths of crimination, resentment may im- 
pel this unfortunate man, I am excused from surmis- 
ing. Whether, as many have done, he will adhere to 
the part he has taken in spite of what he may think 
ill-treatment ; or whether, as many have also done, he 
will transfer himself to a situation, where he will expect 
more attention, does not belong immediately to the 
present decision : at least, I have taken the liberty to 
throw it out of tlie balance. At all events I am happy 
this troublesome affair is ended, and I hope it will 
never arise to disturb the counsels of America more. 
Subjects of contention and animosity are retiring one 
after another, and unanimity reviving in Congress 
where it is so essentially necessary. 

Trifles have had their day, and a long one it has 
been ; matters of moment have a claim to this, and that 
it may not only be longer, but perpetual, I am per- 
suaded it is the ardent wish of every honest man. 
Upon reviewing what I have written, a suspicion oc- 
curs that the above representation may imply a reflec- 
tion on the conduct of some of my colleagues, which is 
far from my meaning, as it would be repugnant to jus- 
tice. The time is not the same, other circumstances 
also disagree ; on the contrary, I must declare that I 
think their situation hard and undeserved. 

The whole train of the transaction I can trace 



49 

minutely. To the quartet from whence the accusa- 
tions have originated, the motives which inspired them 
and the instruments which have been employed for 
their circulation, I am not a stranger, nor am I sur- 
prised at anything thus far. 

But that their fellow-citizens should entertain 
impressions unfavorable to those they once thought 
well of, and not call for an investigation of their con- 
duct, or suspend their opinions till an explanation 
should be had, may perhaps be a matter of some dis- 
couragement. 

If the gentlemen know what is alledged to their 
charge, I am astonished they do not apply for an op- 
portunity of justification. 

Certainly if I should ever be of importance enough to 
be found fault with, I should expect the liberty of ex- 
plaining facts and motives ; after that it is the part of 
an honest man to submit in silence to the judgment of 
these who have a right to pass upon his conduct. 

I enclose sundry papers marked from No. i to 5, 
which I have met with since I came to this place, and 
which I have copied for the sight of such gentlemen 
of the Legislature as may think it worth their trouble 
to read them. 

They relate to a matter which was before the Leg- 
islature at their last sitting previous to the present. 
One, if not more of them, is on the files of the Assem- 
bly. They may be of use on some future occasion, 
but my principal object in copying them is to com- 
municate the noble and dignified sentiments of the 
commander-in-chief, and to give some idea of the dif- 
ficulties he has to encounter. 

If ever any man deserved gratitude and confi- 
dence he does, and more especially as his modesty 
will never allow him to be sated with the former, nor 
his goodness of heart to abuse the latter. 

His letter marked No. 2, is an example in its 
kind. It is necessary that I give you the trouble 



so 

communicating to the House the substance of this 
lengthened letter. I have no idea they will have pa- 
tience to go over the whole. 

I am, with due respect, your obed't and h'mble 
servant, 

William C. Houston. 

Philadelphia, November I2th, 1779. 
To Governor Livingston : 

Sir: In may last I was under a misconception rel- 
ative to the embargo law of the state of Pennsylvania. 
I find that by a transient attention to it I accidentally 
mistook for an act a bill printed in the Pennsylvania 
Packet for public consideration, and which did not 
pass. The embargo now in operation here is not con- 
ditional but absolute as ours. It is my duty to notice 
the mistake, lest it should be instrumental in giving 
impressions unfavorable and unjust. 

Every day brings me fresh uneasiness respecting 
the supply of the general treasury. The expectation 
of Count D'Estaing's visiting our coasts in this quar- 
ter has created a flood of expense, and the means of 
defraying it are narrowing fast. If the taxes for the 
present year are not fully and punctually paid in, every- 
thing but hope holds up discouraging prospects. All 
the states must see the necessity of exertion, and 1 
dare believe New Jersey will not be behind the fore- 
most. The close of this campaign is set down for the 
era of reformation in the percentage departments, to 
say no more, and especially if we are so fortunate as 
to carry through a limitation of prices. Afterwards, 
it is to be confided, expenditures will be much less. 

As for the payment of the taxes for 1780, I men- 
tioned in my last that it was hardly to be imagined 
any monthly assessment or collection could be made 
in our state, though if it were practicable it has its 
advantages. It is rather to be supposed that the Leg- 



51 

islature will lay the amount in two or three payments, 
and collect the taxes for support of government along 
with one or all oi them. I have before mentioned the 
case of two payments. If three are preferred, being 
one million twelve thousand five hundred pounds, each 
payment, they come, at equal intervals, the first of 
February, May and August. The Legislature may 
also probably consider whether taxes are not more 
easily paid in the spring than in the summer, and lay 
more at that season. There would also be another 
advantage in this policy, the money will probably be 
more wanted at the time these taxes are calculated to 
begin than towards the middle or latter end of the 
year. 

There is one clear and obvious principle on which 
all taxation ought to be rested, and if it could be laid 
as a ground-work, and extend through our tax-laws, 
payment would not only be practicable, but light and 
easy ; it is that every man be called upon to pay in 
exact proportion to his ability, all things considered. 
The practice of this principle, I confess, can never hz 
obtained precisely, but it is a point of perfection to 
which laws may be directed, and to which they may 
continually more and more verge. The nearer an 
assessment approximates to this, the more just it is. 
Why is it not proper to estimate every part of the 
whole aggregate estate, be the kind of property what 
it may, according as it is of use and emolument to the 
owner or possessor, and all acquisitions currently aris- 
ing from advantages and opportunities? This maxim 
is practiced upon in some of the States, and compre- 
hended in the short description of taxing a man ac- 
cording to his family. 

The whole debt of the Union does not amount to 
one hundred dollars a head, and if set ofif on the scale 
of strict justice would not perhaps to the poor be 
more than the price of three or four days' work on a 
taxable. Our State, it would seem, has always been in 



52 

the custom of taxing lands too deeply, and there are 
many kinds of property and sources of wealth and in- 
come which have never paid anything. I enclose for 
the perusal of such as are curious, and have not seen 
it, the case of the sloop Active, which has produced a 
dispute between Congress and the state of Pennsyl- 
vania. The nature of this case will be plainly collected 
from the printed proceedings of the Court of Admiralty 
before which it was tried. I mention what further is 
necessary to give an adequate idea of the cause of dif- 
ference. In the Court of Admiralty the jury gave one- 
fourth to the insurgents and three-fourths to the libel- 
lant, and another cruiser in sight at the time of the 
capture. From the decision, which is said to be 
wholly on matter of fact, the insurgents appealed. The 
Court of Appeals decreed the whole to them, and di- 
rected the Judge of Admiralty of the state of Penn- 
sylvania to see their sentence executed. The Judge 
refused, as the law by which the maritime court is es- 
tablished in that state allows an appeal on matters of 
law only, and does not permit the facts found by a jury 
to be re-examined. Much law ammunition has been 
spent on the occasion, and the difference is not yet 
adjusted. Certain it is that by the resolutions of Con- 
gress of 1775, an admiralty jurisdiction say, the facts 
shall be established by a jury. Lawyers say there is 
this distinction between trials by jury and trials by wit- 
nesses, that in the former case the facts found are not 
re-examined, in the latter they are. Our law for erect- 
ing a Court of Admiralty, allows an appeal in all cases 
whatsoever, but it must be acknowledged that an ap- 
peal on matter of fact from the verdict of a jury has not 
a good sound. And yet juries are too often worse 
qualified to decide in maritime causes than any other. 
You have also a report of the commissioners ap- 
pointed by General Washington in April last to set- 
tle a course for the exchange of prisoners with the 
commissioners of General Clinton. It has been alreadv 



53 

published in the newspapers. It is with pleasure 
I also send an extract from the general orders of the 
commander-in-chief of 29th July last. The virtues of 
this amiable man as a citizen are no less conspicuous 
than his spirit and perseverance as a soldier. To- 
morrow will be published, by order of Congress, the 
news from the southward. You will hear it with 
concern. The raising of the siege of Savannah is not 
so much to be regretted in itself as the consequent ex- 
posure of a large extent of country, the inhabitants of 
which must unavoidably suffer before succor can ar- 
rive to them. Let us however remember what has 
so often happened, that confidence is the road to dis- 
appointment, and where our prospects are least prom- 
ising from thence success often comes. Nesquam des- 
peranduni est de Republica. 

I am, sir, with due regard, your obed't, h'ble ser- 
vant, 

William C. Houston. 



To Governor Livingston: 

Philadelphia, November 22d, 1779. 
Sir : Enclosed you have the result of the delibera- 
tions of Congress on the representation of the 7th ul- 
timo respecting a general limitation of prices. We 
beg leave to say that with attention to the interests of 
the Union in general and the State in particular, and 
also to the convenience of the Legislature, we have 
left no means untried to give success and dispatch to 
the business. The Legislature, we flatter ourselves, 
will be disposed to overlook any defects in the plan 
recommended by Congress compared with the scope 
and tenor of their representation, when they reflect 
that different States as well as individuals, however they 
may coincide in the main substance of a measure, 
vary often in their ideas on particular parts, and also 
when they are informed that what wc have now the 



54 

pleasure to transmit has passed with a great degree 
of unanimity. For the sake of this and greater expe- 
dition, policy dictated to concede a little. From ap- 
pearances we think ourselves justified to say that the 
measure recommended will in all probability be uni- 
versally adopted throughout the Union. The date of 
commencement is more distant than could have been 
wished, but when the remoteness of some of the States 
is considered, as also that many of the Legislatures are 
not sitting, and that the limitations ought to take place 
at the same time everywhere, it could not well be gain- 
sayed. Other arguments also have been urged, tending 
to show that this bill gives fuller el^cacy to the measure, 
by giving people an opportunity to provide against 
losses and disappointment to their essential prejudice 
The ratio of prices to those current formerly, though 
by many thought too large, is set at a limit which we 
hope will produce an easy turn to the tide of deprecia- 
tion, and make a further reduction in due time more 
natural and practicable. 

We have the honor to be, with all respect, your 
obed't h'ble servants, 

Jno. Witherspoon. 

Nath. Scudder. 

John Fell. 

William C. Houston. 

His Excell'y The Governor and 
Speaker of the Assembly 
New Jersey. 

Phild'a, 20th Deer., 1779. 
Sir: It is with reluctance I trouble you once and 
again on the critical situation of affairs at this time. 
To cast round and examine the risques and difficulties 
which start up every where has a tendency to send the 
mind in every direction for succor. A treasurv 
without money and an army without bread, is reallv 
alarming. I have already observed that the failure 



55 

of supplies in the staff departments is unexpectedly 
great ; but so it is, and the question now is, the most 
immediate means of providing against the worst con- 
sequences. In a prospect so embarrassed there is still 
however hope and encouragement, because the 
means are among us, and the mode of providing and 
applying them to the exigency is not impracticable ; 
and when the well being, not to say existence, of our 
cause depends upon it, importunity will be forgiven 
and every exertion made. 

The Commissary General is now here. I have 
conversed with him fully. I write on the evidence of 
his positive declarations, that his supplies are exceed- 
ingly small, and what he has cannot possibly get to 
camp in season to prevent an absolute want of bread. 
That the army is already at short allowance every- 
where; in many places totally destitute. It is no* 
worth while to stand discussing causes when the ef- 
fect is taking place and the moment calls for interposi- 
tion. I do not, therefore, want at present to trouble 
the Legislature with explanations, but do earnestly 
entreat, that long as they have been together, they will 
not rise till measures are taken to secure an immedi- 
ate competent supply of flour, as far as it can pos- 
sibly be had, and till a plan is adopted to draw forth 
all the State can spare aftervv^ards. In the request 
which went from Congress some days since, I could 
not but be of opinion the quantity was rather large, 
though it was not disproportionate to what was as- 
signed to some others ; however the Legislature can 
pretty well determine this point. It is to be expected 
that what has always happened on similar occasions, 
will again be the case, that many who can spare will 
not, some for one reason others for another. Im- 
pressment has therefore become necessary, and in such 
connection, if in any, is justifiable. It is confessed 
to be an evil, but the less of the two. If the Legisla- 
ture cannot tarry to complete an adequate plan, the 



56 

Consitution of the Executive is such that, one would 
think, the best citizen may feel himself perfectly secure 
in trusting it even much farther, were it necessary, than 
an extent like this which involves a little personal 
property only. The inconveniences which attend the 
appointment of agents in every county would seem 
to make four or five active, intelligent men preferable 
before the largest number. Nor would this prevent 
the fullest efforts of the disinterested and publick 
spirited everywhere, or abstract from the use of their 
services. I am not capable to determine whether, at 
this time, it would be best to put a stop to the conti- 
nental purchasers, though I suppose they are as num- 
erous as ever, and do as little good and receive as high 
commissions. There is at the same time a danger 
from a competition of prices. The allowance for the 
flour till the first of February will probably be at the 
current, or however a generous price, lest complaint 
and discouragement should take place ; and perhaps 
a prospect of a falling rate will induce a readier sup- 
ply. This representation has hitherto been confined 
to flour, but I beg leave to mention that meal is not 
likely to be more plentiful, though there is a little 
quantity more immediately within reach. Perhaps 
sufficient for some weeks without resorting to the salt- 
ed which is also dispersed and scanty. From the 
Commissary General I learn, that no considerable pur- 
chases are making, his deputies being out of cash. 
I mention this as it may perhaps be thought advisable 
to pay a little attention to it also. 

It is unnecessary to detain you further than to ex- 
plain a little more in detail why so much dependence 
is unavoidably placed on New Jersey, and this inter- 
ference most immediately requested. New York is 
nearly drained, not to mention that large detachments 
of the army are in that State ; the Assembly of Penn- 
sylvania are not together, nor could they be convened 
much, if any sooner, than the time to which they stand 



57 

adjourned, and the Executive are not vested with 
power adequate to the object ; as to the suppHes 
bought up in the adjacent States, they cannot be trans- 
ported so as to reach the army in season, still less so, 
the navigation of the Delaware being already inter- 
rupted. In the Southern Quarter a Post will be 
wanted for the Troops marching that way. 

I enclose the Resolutions of Congress of the 4lh 
and ly instant, which have probably already reached 
His Excellency the Governor from the President. 
Nearly all the radical principles are adopted for a 
change oi those systems which have long been ob- 
noxious to the people. I cannot but hope that the 
alternative will be approved and useful. 

I have only further to beg indulgence for the lib- 
erties I have taken, with a sincere intention to do what 
I thought w^as right. 

Am, Sir, your obed't Serv't, 

Wm. Ch. Houston. 



To Governor Livingston: 

Philadelphia, May 22d, 1780. 
Sir : I have the honour to enclose for the use of the 
Legislature a Boston paper of the 8th inst., which I 
have this day received by post, containing the act of 
the Legislature of the State of Massachusetts bay on 
the proceedings of the i8th March last relative to 
finance. I think it my duty to communicate every- 
thing on this subject which comes to my hands, as to 
me the matter appears of the most indispensable im- 
portance; but shall not detain further upon it, having 
already explained myself pretty fully. I only beg leave 
to observe that if I had not thought the interest of the 
State deeply concerned, I should not have been ex- 
plicit, especially since I have heard that a variety of 
sentiments prevails among those who are certainly 
capable of judging. This has aroused my caution, but 



5« 

upon a careful review of the whole subject, and exam- 
ination of all I have read and heard, I must still ven- 
ture to say that something is necessary to be done, and 
that no expedient appears to me so promising and ad- 
visable, every circumstance considered, as the one now 
in question. By communicating the several acts as I 
receive them, I do not expect that the Legislature will 
be so much influenced by example as assisted in fram- 
ing a law in the subject. It may indeed be matter of 
encouragement that the measure is elsewhere adopted, 
but as one State cannot be injured by adopting it be- 
fore another, but rather the contrary, there can be no 
objection to take early rank in this instance. 

I have heard it alleged that these resolutions in- 
volve a breach of faith. Though no such thing ap- 
pears to me, yet if by any construction it is inferred, it 
will probably operate to induce the Legislature to leave 
out the comparison between specie and the present 
bills, and retain only that between the latter and the 
new bills to be emitted. How far this will be an effec- 
tual provision I pretend not to determine, the conse- 
quences may be examined, and it is of the highest mo- 
ment to weigh them. 

Lest it should escape the recollection of the Legis- 
lature, I take the liberty to mention that the embargo 
act continued the 25th of December last in consequence 
of a recommendation of Congress of the 15th of the 
same month was limited to the first of April last. The 
expected events of this campaign, the present state of 
provisions, the prospects of the coming crop, far from 
being so favorable as could be wished, all conspire to 
urge the propriety of reviving and continuing that act. 
The matter was lately agitated in Congress, but as no 
instance of exportation was known, except from Del- 
aware, and it was said the embargo was in force in the 
other States, a resolution was extended no further than 
Delaware. We did not mention New Jersey, because 
there was no doubt the Legislature on adverting to the 



59 

circumstances above mentioned would take the neces- 
sary measures. 

The State of Pennsylvania has applied to Congress 
for direction with respect to the propriety of receiving 
the certificates given in the staff departments in the 
payment of taxes. As I see the highest probability 
the measure will be approved and recommended, I 
take the liberty to apprize the Legislature. I see no 
prospect of any other answ^er to the address and rep- 
resentation of the 15th of March last, and am of opm- 
ion that time need not be lost in waiting to hear from 
Congress. No means in the power of the delegates 
of the State have been omitted to obtain some other 
mode of discharging the debts due to the inhabitants, 
and avoiding the necessity of resorting to this expedi- 
ent, but without effect. 

The proceeding of Saturday last you have ere now 
received. I doubt not the President has suggested the 
propriety of secresy, for though these things are nois- 
ing abroad, they are surmises without information. 
I speak particularly of the contents of the letter. The 
occasion is highly interesting, and the improvement of 
it may be attended with the most happy consequences. 

I have the honour to be your Excellency's most 
obedient and humble servant. 

William C. Houston, 

To Governor Livingston : 

Philadelphia, Sunday, June 4th, 1780, 
12 o'clock at noon. 
Sir : A Mr. William Finnie from Williamsburg, in 
Virginia, is just arrived in town, and brings the follow- 
ing intelligence. That when he as at Baltimore, in 
Maryland, on his way to this place, a number of letters 
came to sundry persons there, from Richmond, the 
capitol of Virginia, informing that Charlestown capit- 
ulated on the I2th ultimo. The news is mentioned to 



6o 

come by an express from Governor Rtitledge of South 
Carolina to Congress, who was ordered to call on his 
route and deliver dispatches to Governor Nash of 
North Carolina, and Governor Jefferson of Virginia. 
This is supposed to be the reason that he has not yet 
reached Philadelphia. No particulars are mentioned. 
The speculators, whose riders travel day and night 
on such occasions, generally precede the publick ex- 
presses. By a letter of 31st ultimo from General 
Washington, I find the capture is credited at head- 
quarters. What to say against report so confirmed i 
am at a loss. The probability certainly is against us. 
Nothing but ofificial certainty remains to be expected. 
If the event has taken place we may hourly expect this, 
as the express cannot be far off, unless some extraor- 
dinary accident has befallen him. I do not like to be- 
lieve bad news, but we ought to be prepared for it. 

The reflections which first present themselves are, 
that no greater stroke has befallen vis since the com- 
mencement of the war, and none which has required 
more active, thorough exertions to recover and repair 
it, than this will. It is not said on what terms the gar- 
rison capitulated, but in all likelihood they cannot be 
more favorable than prisoners of war. Their service 
is lost to us, probably for the campaign. The finances 
evidently mending, will be thrown aback, and without 
a speedy execution of the system of i8th March, per- 
haps return to wilder disorder than ever. No subject 
whatever requires more attention, for money will be 
more necessary than ever. The effect upon the army, 
as well as upon the people, will t6o probably be dis- 
piriting, especially at first; but may be directly 
opposite, after a little reflection, if the publick move- 
ments can all be made to draw together, and no chasm 
or derangement happen before their thoughts and 
views have time to collect and accommodate them- 
selves to the exigency. Bold councils are the best ni 
precarious times. I would submit to the Legislature 



6i 

whether if this intelHgence turns out fact, it would not 
be best to vest in the Governor and Privy Council, or 
a greater quorum if more proper, powers suited to the 
cast of the occasion. The capture of Charlestown and 
the arrival of a French fleet, should it happen, both 
rec|uire it. The utmost reach of the powers of tlie 
State will be necessary in a model which can be speedy 
and effective in execution, either to provide against 
great evils or to attempt great objects. The Legisla- 
ture of Pennsylvania, which adjourned last Thursday, 
before this news appeared in any shape, considering 
the greatness of the crisis, empowered the Executive 
to proclaim and establish martial law in case of neces- 
sity, during the recess of the Assembly, for limited 
periods. The Assembly has adjourned to September 
next. A special council composed of members of both 
Houses might be more agreeable to many, but I say 
nothing of the form, only have taken the liberty to say 
thus much concerning the thing itself. A correspond- 
ence between such body and the delegates in Congress 
for the State, might be of great use to the State, should 
the Legislature be unanimous in adopting the measure 
so as to give it weight with the people at large. 

It also occurs that early and effectual attention 
ought to be paid to the State, and preparation of the 
militia. Great part of the enemy's troops will return 
to New York immediately on the reduction of Charles- 
town, though if they knew their true interest they 
would all leave New York and go to the southward. 
In the event of their coming back, their disposition to 
mischief is too well known to believe that they will be 
pacific toward New Jersey. It is not a far sought re- 
flection that this disaster, though great, it not matter 
of despondence. Mortals see not futurities, and who 
can say that Heaven does not mean this to precede 
something more important to us than it is to the 
enemy. Things much more unexpected have hap- 
pened. 



62 

Tlie enemy must commit themselves on the ocean 
before they can appear at New York. Perhaps it is 
best ; history and experience say, that young nations 
as well as men, are less able than those of riper age, 
to bear that prosperity which is not dashed with some 
sharpness of misfortune. These things fulfil the end 
of God's government, where partial evil is general 
good. We pity our sufifering brethren, but no man 
despairs of the republick. 

I am your Excellency's very obedient servant. 
William C. Houston. 

To Governor Livingston : 

Philadelphia, June 5th, 1780. 

Sir : You will receive enclosed two resolutions of 
Congress which have doubtless already gone from the 
President in the ordinary course of communication. 
But as papers sometimes miscarry, thought it not amiss 
to repeat them. That relative to deserters will certain- 
ly be of moment, should any French troops or the 
troops of any allied or co-operating power, ever be 
landed on the American shores for the purpose of giv- 
ing assistance in the prosecution of the war. The 
laws relative to desertion will easily be extended to se- 
cure and return them. This is not only the duty of an 
ally, but it is our interest in many respects and no ob- 
jection that I know of can be taken to it. 

The other, relative to the defence of the interior 
frontiers against the incursions of the savages is im- 
portant to us. I understood, when lately at Trenton, 
that there was a bill before the Legislature for embody- 
ing a number of militia to protect the upper settle- 
ments. That no hesitation may hereafter be made 
relative to the allowance of continental pay and rations 
it would be well to take the step New York has taken, 
and obtain the approbation and engagement of Con- 
gress or the commander-in-chief, — either will be suf- 



63 

ficient. Every one must be convinced of the necessity 
of supporting the settlements over the mountains ; for, 
if they are obHged to remove, double if not treble the 
number of men will be necessary to secure the country 
against impressions, and after all it will not be so ef- 
fectually done in this as in the other mode. 

The post established in Ulster will be of advantage 
in the general protection, and the Legislature will be 
able to determine in what degree we may be benefited 
by it. In the resolutions of 4th April last is men- 
tioned the body of men to which this of the ist inst. 
refers. 

I have the honor to be, with due regard, your 
Excellency's very obedient h'ble servant, 

William C. Houston. 

It was in 1779 that Houston is credited with having, 
with Robert Morris and Livingston, made himself re- 
sponsible for the sum of £7000, to clothe the Conti- 
nental troops. A brief sketch of him by Cooley thus 
refers to the incident : 

"In 1779, the troops of the State in the Continental 
Army continued to be in a most destitute condition, es- 
pecially with regard to pay and clothing, and a touching 
appeal was made by the ofhcers, at the same time set- 
ting forth their grievances. During the recess of the 
Legislature, the necessities of the troops became so 
urgent that three individuals — Gov. Livingston, Robert 
Morris and William Churchill Houston — interposed 
for their relief, and requested the treasurer of the State 
to furnish the commissioners of clothing any sum not 
exceeding £7000, to supply clothing, for which they 
would be responsible, if the Legislature would make 
no appropriation." 



64 

During the session of 1781, Houston devoted 
himself largely to a discussion of financial questions, 
methods of increasing the revenue, preparing the 
budgets for the appropriations of the Army, Navy and 
Civil affairs. 

In January, 1781, he wrote "Detached Thoughts 
on the Subject of Money and Finance," which has 
never been printed, and gives us rather an interesting 
view of his peculiar treatment of a subject which, 
at that time, was occupying the attention of some 
of the greatest minds of this country, both in and out 
of Congress. This paper is preserved in the collection 
of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and reads 
as follows : 

DETACHED THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OF MONEY AND 

FINANCE. 

In modern times the money and finance of a state are matters 
of so great consequence that too much attention cannot be paid 
to them. 

Perhaps the reason why many mistakes are committed on this 
subject is, that people do not study it in the proper train. They 
take up the middle instead of the beginning. Every man is a 
financier at once, without thought or experience, except that of 
an hour. There is but one way of comprehending any art or sci- 
ence, fully and that is by beginning with the rudiments and first 
principles, and proceeding to truths and operations lees evident, 
but demonstratively deducible from them. 

When the intrinsic value of money does not bear a just pro- 
portion to the uume.rary, everything is set at loose. All trans- 
actions of dealing become dangerous and no degree of foresight 
can ascertain how far the evil extends. 

All reasoning upon the subject of circulating mediums and all 
calculations upon the sufficiency of them, are suspicious, if any 
thing more is meant than that, other circumstances being alike, 
when money will not purchase as much in one place as in another, 
there is, comparatively speaking, too much of it in the place 
where it purchases less and vice versa. An equilibrium is the 
natural tendency of money, as well as of water, and is alwayii 
desirable. 

Therefore, bringing money into a State by borrowing from 
another, unless it will buy more in the borrowing Slate, other 
circumstances being alike, than in the leading one, is wrong. 

What are we to understand by a medium of trade, or an ado- 



65 

quate circulating medium? If there Is a given sum of silver in 
any state and a bushel of wheat sells for eight pennyweights of 
it, is not this as sutficient a medium, as double the sum, sixteen 
pennyweights of which will then buy a bushel of wheat? If not, 
leave things to themselves, and they will soon find their level. 
Restraint is always fatal and operates against its own views. 

When the supreme authority of a State orders the citizens to 
receive money at a price superior to its real value, the operation 
is injurious and the risk is dreadful on account of the confusions 
which must infallibly ensue. It is better, both for the State and 
individuals, to have recourse to extraordinary taxes and contribu- 
tions to support the public exigencies. 

Too little money may be an evil, but too much is perhaps a 
greater; because a redundancy destroys one of the essential quali- 
ties of money, namely, that it should be so scarce as to be sought 
after at the value which the authority of the government has 
placed upon it. 

Industry, not money, is the riches of a nation. Spain has 
more mines, at least works more, than any other State; yet Spain 
is not rich. Money is got principally by mining and not by agri- 
culture or manufactures; but did individuals get it by industry 
and the community by taxes, both would be richer. The planter's 
farm and the manufacturer's shop is a better mine than any in 
Peru. 

Paper circulation is a delusive wealth, as far as it is not the 
representative of deposited coin. It is an anticipation upon an 
uncertainty, that is, upon the future industry of the community, 
and an excess of it destroys that very industry which ought to be 
its foundation. 

Paper money in the American States was introduced and be- 
came fashionable in consequence of British oppressions. Their 
acts for the prohibition of manufactures and the regulation of 
trade, constantly kept the balance so deep against us that no 
money, which would pass in any other country, could stay among 
us. Were trade open and unmolested, as it will be at the con- 
clusion of the Yvar, if the issue be successful to us, paper currency 
would be unneccessary. No trading country is better calculated 
to do without it. 

Therefore it must be the beet policy to draw all the paper 
money out of circulation at as early a period as possible. It 
ought to be doue gradually and regularly, and, in this way, the 
sooner the better. The measures of government ought to be 
pointed at this object and not to lose sight of it till it is completed. 
If there is not coin enough in the country for what is called a 
medium of trade and intercourse, there will be a sufficiency before 
the paper bills are all cancelled, let that event come as rapidly as 
it may. 

The way to keep the expenses of a war at a low amount, is 
to use nothing but real money; there is nothing else about the 
value of which people in general are at all times nearly agreed. 

All transactions of government ought to be fair and open, but 
especially those which relate to money and finance ought to be so. 
Were it ever conceded that there may be subjects and occasions 
in government, in which a little sleight of hand for the public 
good, might, perhaps, be in some degree, pardonable, nothing of 
money and finance can, by any means, be reckoned among them. 



66 

It may be said in many caeos, tut in none with more propritly 
than in this, that there are principles and impressions which 
operate secretly and insensibly; all classes of people act uniformly 
upon them, many apparently without recolle.cting or even uiider- 
efanding anything about them. As in the growth of vegetables the 
effect is visible, bat the operation of the cause is both impercepti- 
bio and myeterioue. 

W. C. HOUSTON. 
January ISth, 1781. 

On the 24th of September, 1781, Houston was 
elected by Congress Controller of the Treasury, he 
having been previously nominated by Elias Boudinot, 
but shortly after, October 13th. in a letter to that body, 
he declined the honor, upon which another ballot was 
cast and James Milligan was chosen in his place. In 
the meantime, April, 17S1, he had been admitted to 
the practice of the law. 

"As a lawyer he was learned, and at the very 
threshold of his professional life attached the princi- 
ple that he would never, in any circumstances, suffer 
himself to be engaged in a cause of the justice of which 
he was not conscientiously satisfied. This necessarily 
limited the extent of his practice, but is an example 
which commends itself." 

He had, for some time, thought of retiring from 
Congress. As early as March 20th, 1780, Dr. With- 
erspoon writes to a friend in Scotland : "I have now 
left Congress, not being able to support the expense 
of attending it. Professor Houston, however, our 
Professor of Mathematics, is a delegate this year ; but 
he tells me he will certainly have to leave it next No- 
vember. I mention this circumstance to confirm what 
I believe I wrote you formerly, that members of Con- 
gress, not only receive no profit from that ofBce, but 
I believe, five out of six of them ; if not more, are great 



67 

losers in their private affairs." Patriotic considerations, 
however, had induced Houston to remain until 1781. 

(bn the 28th of September of that year he was ap- 
pointed clerk of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, 
which office he held until his death. He now returned 
actively to the duties of his professorship, which, how- 
ever, he resigned in 1783, and devoted himself entirely 
to his profession, and political duties, although he 
continued a connection with the college, serving con- 
tinuously as Treasurer of that institution. 

He was appointed Receiver of Continental Taxes 
in 1782 and continued to hold that ofifice until 1785. 

After resigning his professorship in the College 
of New Jersey he became one of the founders and one 
of the first stockholders of the Trenton Academy. 
Shortly after his admission to the bar of New Jersey he 
had been appointed one of the Commissioners named 
by Congress to settle the dispute between Pennsylvania 
and Connecticut regarding the Wyoming lands, the 
other Commissioners being William Whipple, Wel- 
colm Arnold, David Brearley and Cyrus Grifitin. The 
Commission held its sessions at Trenton from Novem- 
ber 1 2th to December 30th, 1782, and its decision, 
which was in favor of the State of Pennsylvania, and 
from which there was no appeal, was so brief and clear 
as to startle those interested. It has passed into his- 
tory as "The Trenton Decree." 

Mr. Houston delivered many addresses on law at 
Princeton, and there are also extant several of his opin- 
ions in various cases, given at Trenton, also a number 
of speeches made before the New Jersey Legislature. 
They mostly consist of lengthy legal questions, 



68 

and quotations from authorities here and in England 
on points of constitutional law. One of these is an ad- 
dress on "Whether the Liberty of the Press ought to 
extend so far as to justify the Publishing of the name 
of a Person, with strictures on his conduct, by an 
anonymous author, or with a fictitious signature," 
which was delivered at Trenton, 24 March, 1784, and is 
here given as an example of his exhaustive research in 
the treatment of such subjects. 

WHETHER THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS 
OUGHT TO EXTEND SO FAR AS TO JUS- 
TIFY THE PUBLISHING OF THE NAME 
OF A PERSON, WITH STRICTURES ON 
HIS CONDUCT, BY AN ANONYMOUS 
AUTHOR, OR WITH A FICTITIOUS SIG- 
NATURE. 

The English Law Doctrine of Libels is so naked- 
ly absurd that it is a matter of surprise they should 
persist in it. To see such enlightened sages of the 
law as Hobart, Hawkins, Blackstone or Bacon strug- 
gling at the awkward uphill task of showing that a 
Libel is not the less culpable for being true, nay that 
truth is an aggravation of crime, cannot but fill us with 
a kind of indignant sorrow. From the instances which 
have come to the knowledge of the public, we have 
good reason to believe that American courts and 
juries entertain very different sentiments, and view 
the Liberty of the Press and the Doctrine of Libels 
through the just medium of common sense ; and prob- 
ably their ideas are nearly similar to those of the an- 
cients upon these subjects. With our venerable pro- 
genitors the Falsehood or Malice of a Libel, constituted 
the essence of its crime, and the forms of indictment 
ior this offence, which were in use centuries ago, use 



69 

the words false, scandalous and malicious. In our own 
country, if a judgment may be formed upon the appar- 
ent principles and impressions of the people at large, 
nothing would' be considered as a Libel unless intention- 
ally false and palpably malicious. These two ingredi- 
ents make the scandal, and the scandal is the crime 
and, if anything is settled among us as law in this 
case, it comports with what I have now mentioned. 

Most of the constitutions of the several States in 
the American Union lay it down as a fundamental prin- 
ciple of Government, that "The Liberty of the Press i.i 
essential to freedom and ought to be strenuously sup- 
ported." Some of them go so far as to add this ex- 
pression, "and ought not to be restrained." The 
words have a great latitude and generality, but the 
meaning is perfectly good. It seems to intend that 
the common and general law of every State make* 
provision for the redress of any wrongs which can hap- 
pen in this respect, by allowing damages according 
to the demerits of each case, and rendering the printer 
liable to an action instead of the author, if the name of 
the latter is concealed. 

But will any person say that a writer is not justi- 
fiable in writing, nor a printer in printing and publish- 
ing anything but what he knows to be true? This 
would not only destroy the Liberty of the Press, but 
the Press itself, and at once shut up the avenue of en- 
quiry and discussion, the best and most usual means 
of finding out the truth. To establish such a doctrine 
would be to require universal knowledge in men of 
these descriptions, and to make infallibility indispens- 
ably necessary to their professions. Certainly proba- 
bility is a sufficient ground for them, or in other words, 
they are only to avoid intentional falsehood, and the 
emotions of malice. To deny a man the liberty of act- 
ing where he may entertain any doubt, or to be at any 
uncertainty, is to stop and render him a statue. The 
Doctrine of Law is very different from this, which al- 



76 

lows us to undertake a thousand doubtful things; if 
we are right it is well, if not we must suffer the con- 
sequences of our mistakes ; but it is ten times better 
for ourselves as well as others, that we should do this 
than not act at all. 

Some, however, may perhaps go thus far, and then 
halt and distrust upon what appears to be very plain 
and easy ground. They will allow that all this is right 
and pertains to the Liberty of the Press ; but then a 
writer ought not to mention nor a printer to publish 
the name of any person, while that of the writer is not 
given. I cannot persuade myself that this opinion 
will bear reflection and examination. When any class, 
profession or general description of men are to be 
animadverted upon, no names need be mentioned ; 
there can be no necessity for it, and if there could, it 
might not be practicable. But there are thousands 
of instances in which individuals, single characters, 
persons or officers of whom there may be but one of 
the sort, are to be designated and made the subject of 
remark. What is to be done? Either names or some- 
thing that will, with equal certainty, point out the per- 
son meant, must be used ; otherwise we speak not to 
be understood, which is idle and useless, not to say 
ridiculous. Will it then be said that a description 
which will identify the person may be used, but not 
the name? The English law itself, wrong-headed as 
it is upon the subject of Libels, does not go as fa*- 
as this ; but explodes the idea of distinction. It is as 
culpable, say the decisions, to describe the person or 
persons, who are the subject of this charge, as to name 
them, because the effect is the same ; certainly then, on 
the other hand, it must be as proper and right to use 
names as description, which in the end cannot but 
amount to the same thing. It is a mark of reason and 
philosophy to distinguish where there is a real differ- 
ence, and perhaps not less so to regard distinctions 
where there is no difference. 



71 

But the matter being conceded, if so it should hap- 
pen to bC;, that there is no difference, in any material 
respect, between the use of names, and descriptions, 
as above stated, it is then said that if the names are 
used those of the writers ought also to appear. This 
is ipso facto begging the question. I never heard 
any person deny that it is right to publish under a fic- 
titious signature. All that is contended is, that when 
this is the case, the name of the person, who is the sub- 
ject of remark, ought not to be made use of. But we 
have seen before that there is no difference between 
making use of his name and describing him. It is 
then the turn of a feather whether a real or a fictitious 
name be placed at the bottom of a publication. Is it 
one whit to the merits of the question in the thing 
which is submitted to the thoughts and enquiry of the 
public, whether the writers name be John or Joseph? 
But little do we consider how exactly it is the same to 
destroy the Freedom of the Press and to say that a 
writer ought not to sign a fictitious name. Could this 
doctrine once be established that writing under a fic- 
titious signature is wrong, unlawful and ought to be 
suppressed, it would require little logic to prove that 
the Liberties of the people were no more. 

W. C. Houston. 
Trenton, 24 March, 1784. 

Houston joined with others in procuring for John 
Fitch, the steamboat inventor, the ofifice of Deputy 
Surveyor. After the treaty of peace with England, 
the question of how the lands northwest of the Ohio 
should be disposed of was mooted in Congress. It 
was thought they would be sold to pay the debts of 
the Confederacy. Fitch was now a land jobber, and 
supposed that a good operation might be made by a 
pre-survey of the county, so that when the Land Of- 
fices were opened warrants might be taken out im- 



72 

mediately for choice tracts. He found no diffi- 
culty in forming a company to forward such an enter - 
prise. It was composed of Dr. John Ewing, Rev. 
Nathaniel Irwin, Wm. C. Houston, Jonathan Dick- 
inson Sergeant, Stacy Potts, of Trenton, and Colonel 
Joshua Anderson, of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 
These gentlement put £20 each in a fund to pay ex- 
penses. John Fitch showed a rough model of his 
steamboat to Dr. John Ewing, provost of the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania, who gave him a letter to Hous- 
ton, dated Aug. 20th, 1785. In this letter Dr. Ewing 
says : "As you are a gentleman of knowledge in these 
matters, I make no doubt of his receiving your patron- 
age so far at least as to give him an opportunity of lay- 
ing his scheme before Congress." 

The letter of Dr. Ewing to Houston was de- 
livered to the latter a day or two after it was written, 
at his house in Trenton. Houston, not being a 
member of Congress at that time, enclosed the recom- 
mendation of Dr. Ewing to Lambert Cadwalader, 
then a delegate for New Jersey, accompanying it with 
a letter of his own in the following terms : 

"Trenton, August 25, 1785. 

"Sir: I have examined the principles and con- 
struction of Mr. Fitch's Steamboat and though not 
troubled with a penchant for projects, cannot help ap- 
proving the simplicity of the plan. 

"The greatest objections to most pretensions of 
this sort are, the delicacy and complication of the ma- 
chinery. This does not seem liable to such objections, 
as to the moving force of the whole, we know very well 
that the power of steam is beyond conception, it is 
everything but omnipotent, and almost that. 



71 

"The model is plain, and you will at once form a 
judgment of its probable general effect. The differ- 
ence produced by standing or running water is to be 
more attentively considered. I enclose you Dr. Ew- 
ing's letter. He is certainly an able judge in these 
cases, and I cannot help expressing a wish that it may 
be practicable to do something toward procuring an 
experiment. The person who offers it you know. He 
is a man highly deserving, as modest, ingenious, enter- 
prising and of good morals. 
"I am sir, 
'•&c., &c., 

William C. Houston. 
"Honorable L. Cadwalader, Esqr." 

In October, 1784, Houston was again elected to 
Congress, serving until October 28, 1785. 



DELEGATE TO THE CONSTITUTIONAL 
CONVENEION OF 1787. 

Of the many and various honors bestowed upon 
Houston, the greatest, perhaps, was his appointment 
as one of the delegates from New Jersey to the Con- 
vention of 1787, which framed the Constitution of the 
United States. The part which he took in that Con- 
vention has never, until now, been clearly established, 
and the absence of his name from the original draft of 
the famous Act has led either to a misrepresentation of 
his political convictions, or the excuse that ill health 
not only prevented his signing, but also hindreed his 
attendance during the sessions, and it has been sup- 
posed that for one reason or another he took no active 
part whatever in the deliberations of that body. 

"The Act which was signed at Philadelphia on 
September 17, 1787," says Hampton L. Carson, in 
his "History of the Celebration of the One Hundredth 
Anniversary of the Promulgation of the Consitution 
of the United States," "was not so much a sudden crea- 
tion, an inspired fact of that memorable year, as it was 
a logical growth out of many years of thoughtful and 
painful experience. The principles of that nationalized 
union which the Constitution accomplished had already 
been stirring in the breasts of the wise and the patri- 
otic for three generations." 

If, indeed, we go so far back in the history of 
the American people for a dawning of "the principles 
of nationalized Union," perfected by the Constitution, 



7S 

we may well search still further back, and find, amid 
the moldy archives of a half-forgotten people, in those 
utterances and arguments urged for self-government 
which have for ages been advanced by various states- 
men of different nations at different times, and in many 
tongues, the element from which were forged, in 1787, 
the most splendid act that ever emanated from any con- 
vention, either in this or any other country. 

Supposing, however, that ignoring the earlier and 
crude plans of Franklin and others, we view the Con- 
stitution as an act simply and primarly, the direct result 
of the Revolution, we must also remember that, from 
the very beginning of the struggle, it had been consid- 
ered by the wisest of our statesmen of imperative im- 
portance that a permanent confederation of the States 
should be effected at the first possible moment. 
Thomas Paine, as early as January, 1776, wrote: "We 
have every opportunity and every encouragement to 
form the noblest, purest Constitution on the face of 
the earth." In these sentiments he was seconded by 
no less a patriot than Washington himself. 

As years went by the need of concentration of 
power became more urgent. The States were begin- 
ning to assume for themselves sovereign rule, and this 
power was strengthened and guarded more jealously 
as time passed. Congress, indeed, was only the ad- 
viser of the States, and its acts could be annulled part- 
ly or entirely by any of them. What authority Con- 
gress possessed, however, it guarded religiously, en- 
trenching itself as much as possible in the knowledge 
that it was the highest executive body then existing 
in the country, and the dignity thus self-bestowed it 



ye 

was difficult to induce it to surrender. This, more 
than other reasons, is given for delay of an act so long- 
suggested by many of the purest and most partiotic 
men that Congress had ever included in its sessions. 

The Confederation of 1781, indeed, was a loni^ 
stride in the right direction, and was received through- 
out the country in the most enthusiastic manner. It 
was, however, but a temporary measure, weakly con- 
structed, and it soon ceased to command either the re- 
gard or respect from any one or of any State. In the 
meantime commerce suffered, the business of the coun- 
try was paralyzed and its money worthless. 

"The general situation of the country in the summer 
of 1786," writes Hampton L. Carson, "was de- 
plorable. From a careful report made to the 
Count de Vergennes, in September of that year, 
it appears that the condition especially of New Eng- 
land was sufficient to impart a sentiment of despair. 
The common masses of the people, driven by distress, 
demanded the emission of paper money for their re- 
lief. Massachusetts had seen its prodigious evils in 
other States and refused it. These people then took 
arms and dispersed the courts, demanded their aboli- 
tion, and that of the State Senate, and cried out for a 
new emission of paper, and other wild objects from 
which they imagined relief would come. In New 
Hampshire three hundred mutineers assembled to 
break up a court of justice, and intimidated their legis- 
islature. Many of the people of Connecticut made 
efforts for the abolishment of debts and the dissolu- 
tion of the courts. Hundreds of farms were then of- 
fered for sale for the payment of taxes ; and specie was 



71 

so scarce that they hardly brought one-tenth of then 
value." 

The situation, indeed, was not only deplorable, 
but alarming and appalling. The losses, by reason oi 
the great and unsecured issuance of paper money, had 
caused the greatest suffering, not only amongst the 
poor, but amongst those who before the Revolution 
had been substantial farmers, merchants and bankers. 
Those who from the first had publicly opposed the 
war, and those who from motives of personal or finan- 
cial safety had been silent to the world, but really ad- 
verse to the cause, now began to agitate a discontented 
people, and clamor loudly for a monarchy ; nor would 
it have taken considerable time to have placed the 
country in civil strife. In New England, as we have 
seen, the people were already rising under arms, and 
in every State were hundreds of desperate men whose 
late service in the Revolution made them a capable 
and formidable power. These men were asking for 
bread. 

A member of Congress from Virginia wrote at 
this time to Washington : "We are all in dire apprehen- 
sion that a beginning of anarchy with all its calamities 
has approached, and we have no means to stop the 
dreadful work." He ends by suggesting that Wash- 
ington use his influence with the masses of the people 
to quell the disorder, to which Washington character- 
istically replies : "Influence is no government." 

Amid this disorder, however, there were still left, 
undismayed, many of those calm minds which had 
brought the Revolution to a successful issue, and who 
had never abandoned their firm belief in the final sue- 



78 

cess of an independent nation, and in the future wel- 
fare of their country. 

As a preliminary step, at the suggestion of some 
of these men, the Virginia Legislature, in January, 
1786, passed a resolution proposing a convention of 
delegates from all of the States. "To take into con- 
sideration the trade of the United States ; to consider 
how far a uniform in their commercial regulations 
may be necessary to their common interest and their 
permanent harmony ; and to report to the several 
States such an Act, relative to this great object, as, 
when ratified by them, will enable the United States 
in Congress efifectually to provide for the same." 

The Virginia Commissioners finally fixed the first 
Monday in September following as the time, and An- 
napolis as the place for the proposed convention. New 
Jersey was the first State to signify approval and to 
appoint commissioners, her delegates being Abraham 
Clark, William Churchill Houston and James Schuur- 
man. Pennsylvania, Delaware and New York were 
also represented, but the other States either failed tc 
appoint commissioners, or the latter, if appointed, 
failed or refused to attend. The delegates present at 
the Annapolis Convention, after some deliberation, 
agreed to a report to Congress (drawn by Alexander 
Hamilton) "expressing their unanimous conviction 
that it might essentially tend to advance the interests 
of the Union if the States by which they were respec- 
tively delegated would concur, and use their endeavors 
to procure the concurrence of the other States, in the 
appointment of commissioners to meet at Philadel- 
phia on the second Monday of May following to take 



79 

into consideration the situation of the United 
States ; to devise such further provisions as should ap- 
pear to them necessary to render the Constitution of 
the Federal Government adequate to the exigencies of 
the Union ; and to report such an Act for that purpose 
to the United States in Congress assembled as, when 
agreed to by them, and afterwards confirmed by the 
Legislatures of every State, will efifectually provide for 
the same." 

On the 25th of February, 1787, Rufus King, of 
Massachusetts, who at first had opposed such a con- 
vention, introduced a favorable resolution before Con- 
gress, which was adopted, and the Legislatures of 
those States which had not already done so (except 
Rhode Lsland) appointed delegates. It was natural 
that in the appointment of delegates by New Jersey, 
William Churchill Houston, now one of her favorite 
sons, and the intimate of Livingston, Witherspoon, 
Clark, Brearley, Paterson and Boudinot, should have 
been selected. He had, indeed, risen to a very high 
position in the practice of the law, as well as in States- 
manship. 

The following are exact copies of the proceedings 
of the Assembly and Council of New Jersey, both in 
the matter of the appointment of delegates to the An- 
napolis Convention, in September, 1786, and that held 
in Philadelphia, in May following, and wdiilst the lat- 
ter was in session : 



Votes of Assembly, 1786 (New Jersey). 
Minutes and proceedings of the Joint Meeting. 
March 21, 1786. 

The Council and Assembly met at the house of Mr. Drake in 
Trenton, when the following gentlemen were appointed Commis- 



8o 



Bioners to meet the Com mi S3 Ion ere of the other states upon com- 
mercial and other matters, to wit: 

Abraham 

William C. 

James Schuuri 



nailers, lo wii: 
Clark, ] 

d. Houston, > EfiQUlres. 
huurman, J 



November 23. 1786. 

David Bearley, "| Esquires, were elected Commissioners 

William Paterson, I to meet the Commissioners of the 
William C. Houston, }■ other states at PhiladeJphia, in May 
John Neilson, ! next, on Commercial and other Mat- 

J ters. 

May 18, 1787. 

The Council and Assembly met at the house of Mr. Hutchin, 
in the City of Burlington. 

His Excellency William Livingston and Abraham Clark, Esqs., 
were elected Commissioners to meet the Commissioners of the 
other states at Philadelphia, on Commercial and other Matters. 
June 5, 1787. 

The Council and Assembly met at the Court House in the City 
of Burlington. 

Jonathan Dayton, Esquire, was elected a Commissioner to 
meet the Commissioners of the other States at Philadelphia, on 
Commercial and other Matters. 

Votes of Assembly (New Jersey), 1786. 

November 24, 1786. 

Resolved, That the Honourable David Brearley, William C. 
Houston, William Paterson and John Neilson, Esquires, Commis- 
eioners appointed on the Part of this State, or any three of them, 
be, and they are hereby authorized and empowered to meet such 
Commissioners as have been or may be appointed by the other 
States in the Union at the city of Philadelphia, in the Common- 
wealth of Pennsylvania, on the second Monday in May next, for 
the Purpose of taking into consideration the State of the Union as 
to trade and other important Objects, and of devising such further 
Provisions as shall appear to render the Constitution of the fed- 
eral Government adequate to the Exigencies thereof. 

Ordered, That Mr. Anderson do carry the said Resolutions to 
the Council for Concurrence. 

Resolved, That the Treasurer be directed to pay to any three 
of the Commissioners of this State appointed to meet the Com- 
missioners of the other States in the Union upon Commercial and 
other Matters, the Sum of Four Dollars per Day for every Day 
they or either of them shall be employed in this Service, upon Ac- 
count by them to exhibit upon Oath, certifying the Time they 
have been so employed. 

Message from the Council by Mr. Ogden. 

Council Chamber, November 24, 1786. 

The Council having taken into Consideration the Resolution 
of the House of Assembly, empowering the Commissioners to 
meet at Philadelphia in May next, on Commercial Matters, &c. 
. . . and also the resolution . . . relative to directing the 



8i 

Treasurer to pay to any three of the Commissioners of this state, 
appointed to meet the Commissionere of the other States, Four 
Dollars per Day, &c. 

State of New Jersey. 

To the Hon. David Brearley, William Churchill Hous- 
ton, William Paterson and John Neilson, Esqrs., 
Greeting: 

The Council and Assembly, reposing especial 
trust and confidence in your integrity, prudence, and 
ability, have, at a joint meeting, appointed you, the said 
David Brearley, William Churchill Houston, Willian) 
Paterson, and John Neilson, Esqrs., or any three of 
you, Commissioners, to meet such Commissioners as 
have been, or may be, appointed by the other States in 
the Union, at the city of Philadelphia, in the Com- 
monwealth of Pennsylvania, on the second Monday ni 
May next, for the purpose of taking into consideration 
the state of the Union as to trade and other important 
objects, and of devising such other provisions as shall 
appear to be necessary to render the Constitution of 
the Federal Government adequate to the exigencies 
thereof. 

In testimony whereof, the great seal of the State 
is hereunto affixed. Witness, William Livingston, 
Esq., Governor, Captain-general, and Commander-in- 
chief in and over the State of New Jersey, and terri- 
tories thereunto belonging. Chancellor and Ordin- 
ary in the same, at Trenton, the 23d day of No- 
vember, in the year of our Lord 1786, and of our Sov- 
ereignty and Independence the eleventh. 

WILLIAM LIVINGSTON. 

By his Excellency's command. 

Bowes Reed, Secretary. 



82 

The Convention was called to meet May 14th, 
1787, at Philadelphia, at which time some few of the 
delegates, including Houston, were present. The Con- 
vention proceeded immediately to postpone its sessions 
until May 25th, on which day it convened with General 
Washington in the chair, a quorum of the States being 
present. On that day Houston, with the other dele- 
gates, presented his credentials and took his seat. 
There is every reason to believe that from this time 
on he was in constant attendance. 

On June 4th the Legislature of New Jersey passed 
a resolution, showing that he was then in Philadelphia 
and at that time engaged in the work of the Conven- 
tion, and the following, from the Archives of New Jer- 
sey is here presented as evidence of his services to 
this time : 

June 4, 1787- 

The Speaker laid before the House a Letter from 
the Delegates representing this State in the Conven- 
tion now sitting at Philadelphia, desiring a Sum of 
Money may be paid them for the Discharge of the 
Proportion of the Expense of Stationary and other 
contingent Expenses of the Convention ; whereupon, 

Resolved, That the Honourable David Brearley. 
William Churchill Houston, and William Paterson, 
Esquires, or either of them, be, and they are hereby 
authorized and empowered to draw on the Treas- 
urer for a Sum not exceeding Thirty Pounds, to defray 
this State's Quota of the general Expenses which may 
accrue in the course of the Convention ; and such 
Draught, accepted and paid by the Treasurer, shall 
be deemed a sufficient Voucher for so much of the pub- 
lick Monies in his Hands. 

Ordered, That Mr. Whilden do carry the said 
Resolution to the Council for Concurrence. 



83 

June 5, 1787. • 

Message from the Council by Mr. Holmes. 

Council-Chamber, June 5, 1787. 

Ordered, That the Council having taken into Con- 
sideration the Resolution from the House of Assem- 
bly, relative to authorizing the Honourable David 
Brearley, William Paterson and William Churchill 
Houston, Esquires, or either of them, to draw on the 
Treasurer for any Sum not exceeding 30 Pounds, &c. 

Resolved, That the House do concur therein. 

On the same day Jonathan Dayton was added to 
the delegation, as appears by the following from the 
minutes : 

June 7, 1787. 

Resolved, That the Honourable Jonathan Dayton 
be appointed a Commissioner on the Part of this State, 
in Conjunction with his Excellency William Living- 
ston, the Honourable David Brearley, William Church- 
ill Houston, William Paterson and Abraham Clark, 
Esquires, to meet such Commissioners as have been 
appointed by the other States in the Union, for the Pur- 
poses m.entioned in a Resolution of the Legislature of 
the 19th May last; and that the Treasurer be directed 
and authorized to pay to the said Jonathan Dayton, 
Esquire, the same pay as is allowed to the other Com- 
missioners appointed on the part of this State, upon 
producing his Account in the same Manner as is di- 
rected by a Resolution of the Legislature of the 26th 
November, 1786. 

Ordered, That Mr. Starke do carry the said Res- 
olution to Council for Concurrence. 

Council Chamber, June 7, 1787. 
The Council having taken into consideration the 
Resolution from the Plouse of Assembly, relative to 
appointing the Honourable Jonathan Dayton, Es- 



" A 
04 

quire, Commissioner, and directing the Treasurer to 

pay him the same as allowed the other Commissioners, 

Resolved, That the House do concur therein. 

On Tuesday, July 17th, Houston was still in at- 
tendance, and is credited in the "Debates on the Fed- 
eral Constitution" with a motion, in conjunction wath 
Gouverneur Morris, to postpone the consideration of 
the words, "For the term of seven years," which mo- 
tion w'as carried in the affirmative. 

It was Houston, also, who moved to strike out of 
the proposed draft of the Constitution the clause which 
made a President of the United States ineligible for a 
second term, which motion was seconded by Sherman, 
and espoused by Morris, who declared that "the ineli- 
gibility proposed by the clause, as it stood, tended 
to destroy the great motive to good behavior, the hope 
of being rewarded by a reappointment. It was say- 
ing to him 'make hay while the sun shines.' On the 
question under consideration of striking out as moved 
by Houston_, it passed in the affirmative. Hampton 
L. Carson, for some reason, credits this motion to 
Morris and ignores Houston." 

On Monday, July 23d, v/e find that Houston and 
Spaight moved conjointly "that the appointment of the 
executive by Electors chosen by the legislators of the 
States" be reconsidered. Houston debated this mo- 
tion, and urged "the extreme inconvenience and the 
considerable expense of drawing together men from 
all the States for the single purpose of electing the 
Chief Magistrate." 

On the follov/ing day, the appointment of the Ex- 
ecutive being reconsidered, Houston moved that he be 



85 

appointed by the National Legislature, instead of by 
Electors appointed by the State Legislature. 

He again debated the question, and dwelt chiefly 
on "the improbability that capable men would under- 
take the services of Electors from the more distant 
States." The motion, however, after some further 
debate, was lost, being strenuously opposed, especially 
by Gerry. 

Evidence can also be produced to show that he 
continued to attend during the months of August and 
the early part of September. 

It is not our purpose to present here, however, the 
details of Houston's work in the Convention, but mere- 
ly to indicate that he was present throughout its ses- 
sions, and, with the other members of the Commission 
from New Jersey, attended with diligence and zeal 
to the work intrusted to him. Nor do we intend to 
enter into the conduct of the Convention from day to 
day. All that has been told, and well told, by many 
historians. 

The Convention closed its labors on September 
i/th, 1787, and the engrossed draft of the Constitu- 
tion, as approved, was then signed. Houston's name, 
however, is not attached to that document. The prin- 
cipal reasons given for this omission are, first, that he 
was ill and not able to sign, and, secondly, that he was 
not in accord with some of the sections included in the 
Act and declined to afifix his signature. Both of these 
reasons are known to be erroneous, and the most 
simple explanation is that all of the Commissioners of 
each State were not required to sign. 

The following" is the report made by the Commis- 



86 

sioners from New Jersey to the Legislature of that 
State that their work on the Constitution had been 
completed : 

THE COMMISSIONERS Appointed by joint 
meeting of the Legislature to meet Commissioners of 
the other States in the Union, at the City of Philadel- 
phia, in the Month of May last, for the purpose of tak- 
ing into consideration the State of the Union, &c., beg 
leave to report to this honorable House, that in pursu- 
ance of their appointment they met the Commissioners 
of eleven of the other States in Union at Philadelphia, 
and thereupon entered upon the business of their ap- 
pointment. 

That the Commissioners so convened did after 
long and serious deliberation & with no small dif- 
ficulty, finally agree upon a plan for the Government 
of the said United States, which together with the 
other Acts of the Convention were by them transmit- 
ted to the honorable the Congress of the United States. 
Copies of the same are hereunto annexed. 

All which are, by your Commissioners, most 
humbly submitted to this honorable House. 

Trenton, 25th October 1787. 

IVil Livingston. 

David Brearley. 

W. C. Houston. 

Jona. Dayton. 



[A printed copy of the Constitution appended, signed by Liv- 
ingston, Brearley, Paierson and Dayton.] 

It will be noted that Paterson, who signed the Constitution, 
failed to sign the report to the Legislature, William Churchill 
Houston signing in his stead. 

It will therefore be seen that William Churchill Houston is en- 
titled to rank among the signers of the Constitution even though 
his name is not attached to the original document. 



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87 

The Assembly. 
October 26, 1787. 

His Excellency William Livingston, and the Hon- 
ourable David Brearley, William Churchill Houston 
and Jonathan Dayton, Esquires, Commissioners ap- 
pointed by Joint Meeting to meet Commissioners of 
the other States in the Union, at the City of Philadel- 
phia, in the Month of May last, for the purpose of tak- 
ing into Consideration the State of the Union, &c., re- 
ported to the House, that in Pursuance of their Ap- 
pointment, they met the Commissioners of eleven other 
States in the Union at Philadelphia, and thereupon 
entered upon the Business of their appointment. 

That the Commissioners so convened, did, after 
long and serious Deliberation, and with no small Dif- 
ficulty, finally agree upon a Plan for the Government 
of the said United States, which, together with the 
other Acts of the Convention, were by them transmit- 
ted to the Honourable the Congress of the United 
States, in the Words following: [Here follows the Con- 
stitution^ 

Upon the termination of his work in the Con- 
stitutional Convention Houston returned to Trenton, 
where he now resided, and resumed his interrupted 
law practice and his duties as Clerk of the Supreme 
Court, continuing in these occupations with his usual 
energy and fidelity until the following spring. 

And now, at the age of only about forty-two years, 
before many men have yet arrived at the prime of their 
life, the work of William Churchill Houston was fin- 
ished. 

He had been a professor of Mathematics and Nat- 
ural Philosophy in the College of New Jersey at a 
very early age, and a few years later had been 
chosen a member of the Continental Congress, serving 
several terms. He had fought beside Washington 
and had spoken in debate with Jefiferson, Dickinson, 



88 

Adams, Hancock and Madison. His intimate knowl- 
edge of finance had led to his selection as Controller 
of the Treasury, which position, on account of his 
many other duties, he had been forced to decline. 

As a lawyer he had, indeed, been eminently suc- 
cessful and many important cases intrusted to him, 
both of a public and private nature, he had skillfully 
and successfully prosecuted. The crowning event of 
his brief, but brilliant and useful life, however, had 
been his selection as one of the delegates from Ne\A' 
Jersey to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and 
we have shown by documentary evidence, that in that 
Convention he took an active part. Whatever may 
have been his reason for not affixing his name to that 
historic document, it is certain that he was not only 
zealous for its completion, but was also largely instru- 
mental in its ratification, and that he, with the other 
delegates from New Jersey, reported its consummation 
to his own State, and under his own signature. 

During the course of his whole life he had en- 
joyed the sincere and beneficial friendship of some of 
the greatest scholars, statesmen and soldiers of his 
day ; but he has left us but a few lines of writing for all 
of his life's work. If he had lived another score of 
years he might, indeed, like Jefferson and Madison 
and Adams, risen still higher in the ranks of the pa- 
triots, or, like Charles Thomson, once his fellow-secre- 
tary of Congress, have died unrewarded and forgotten 
As it happened, however, death claimed him in pros- 
perity. Overwork, apparently, had shattered his not 
too vigorous constitution, and consumption laid its 
fingers upon his throat. Feeling that the end was ap- 
proaching his thoughts moved from business cares 
and the affairs of state to his old home in the South, 
and he set out to visit it again before he died. Arriv- 



89 

iiig at Frankford, a few miles from Philadelphia, he 
was taken extremely ill and repaired to an inn kept by 
Mr. Geisse, on the Frankford road, where he suddenly 
and unexpectedly expired on August 12th, 1788. His 
body was removed to Philadelphia, and, the next 
morning, he was buried from the house of a relative, 
Mr. Sergeant, on Arch street. 

The interment was made in the burial ground of 
the Second Presbyterian Church, Rev. Ashbel Green 
ofificiating. 

The Second Presbyterian Church, at that time, 
was at the northwest corner of Arch and Third streets. 
It was a brick building, the foundation of which was 
laid in May, 1750, and the edifice was torn down soon 
after 1836. Rev. Asbel Green was pastor of this 
Church from the year 1787. This distinguished Pres- 
byterian divine had been a pupil of Houston's and had 
graduated from Princeton College in 1783, and in 1803 
was elected to the Professorship of Theology in that 
institution. 

It is uncertain whether Houston was buried in 
the ground immediately adjoining the Church or in 
the graveyard belonging to the Second Church on 
Arch street, above Fifth. Both of these grounds 
were leveled and built upon about 1836, and some of 
the bodies removed to a common place of interment. 
His precise resting place, therefore, as well as that 
of many other distinguished sons of Princeton, is not 
now known. 

In person, Houston, says one of his biographers, 
"was tall and slender, dignified and graceful, extreme- 
ly intelligent, grave, serious and uniform. His style 
of speaking was clear, calm, free from excitement, like 



90 

a gentle flowing stream without a ripple or tumult, and 
yet by its simplicity, truth and earnestness, seldom 
failed to produce conviction." No portrait of him is 
believed to be extant. 

William Churchill Houston married Jane, daugh- 
ter of Rev. Caleb Smith, of St. George's Manor, Long 
Island, and Martha, his wife, daughter of Rev. Jona- 
than Dickinson, President of Princeton College. She 
di^d in 1796, aged 41 years, and is buried in the Law- 
renceville Cemetery. They had two sons, George 
Smith and William Churchill, and three dauhgters, 
Elizabeth, Louisa Ann and Mary. 



APPENDIX. 



NOTE ON THE HOUSTON FAMILY.— This family derived 
its surname from the parish of Houston in Renfrewshire. "That 
the family of Houston, originally assuming their surname from 
a place long since called Kilpeter (now Houston), has been a 
great antiquity in those parts, doth appear from unquestionable 
documents, and derive their descent from Hugo de Padvinan, 
who obtained a grant of the barony of Kilpeter from Baldwin 
of Bigger, Sheriff of Lanark, in the reign of Malcolm the IV, 
whereupon his descendants assumed appellations (from) their 
hereditary lands; which barony continueth with them in the 
male line to this day." This Hugh de Padvinan was a witness 
to the foundation Charter of Walter, High Steward of Scot- 
land, to the Abbey of Paisley, 1160. His son, Reginald, obtained 
a charter of the lands of Kilpeter in Stathgrife, and was succeeded 
by Hugh living 1225. "From these ancient barons of Houston," 
says the same writer, "descending to the reign of King James 
the 11. that Sir Patrick Houston of that Ilk, departing this life 
anno, 1450, was buried in the chapel of Houston, where there is 
a fair monument to the memory of him and his wife." She was 
Mary Colquhoun, who died 1456. 

Sir Peter Houston, a grandson of this Patrick, was in the 
battle of Flodden and was there killed, who, having married 
Helen, daughter of Sir John Schaw, of Sauchy, had numerous 
issue. Sir Ludovick Houston of this family married Margaret, 
daughter of Patrick Maxwell, of Newark, by whom he had Pat- 
rick Houston his successor, George Houston of Johnson and 
several daughters. Ludovick died in 1662. Patrick, his son, who 
died in 1696, having married Anne, daughter of Lord Bargany, 
had issue, Sir John, Patrick, William, James and Archibald 
Houston, and three daughters, and is suposed to have been the 
ancestor of the South Carolina famliy. Another branch of this 
family settled in Georgia. 

Archibald Houston, the father of William Churchill Houston, 
died in 1805 in Cabarras county. His will bears date 10th of May, 
1800. His first wife was named Margaret, and his second, Agnes. 
His children were: Archibald, William Churchill, Margaret, 
Elizabeth, Rachel, Ann and Grace. 

Archibald Houston became a very prominent man in politi- 
cal life in North Carolina. 



INDEX. 



PAGE 

Adair, James 3 

Alexander, Joseph 7, 8, 10 

Andexson, Colonel Jcehua 72 

Arnold, General (Benedict) 42 

Arnold, Welcolm 67 

Avery, Waightstill 7 

Balch, H. J 6 

Barnes, Malor John 36 

Bartolof, Mr 33 

Barton, Lieut. Zebulon 19 

Blackwell, Robert 15 

Bogert, Mr 32 

Boudinot, Elias 79 

Brearley, David 67, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83 86 

Brevard, Ephralm, M. D 1,15 

Brown, Isaac V 90 

Cadwalader, General 86 

Cadwalader, Lambert 72, 73 

Carson, Hampton L 74, 76, 84 

Clark, Abraham 78, 79, 80, 83 

Clinton, General 52 

Close, Rev. John 7 

Cochran 25 

Cornwallls, General 36, 37 

Culbertson, Samuel 15 

Dayton, Jonathan 80, 83, 86 

D'E.staing, Count 50 

De Fermoy, Brig. Gen Rochei 43 

De Soto 3 

Dickinson, General 28, 30 

Dickineon. Jonathan 72, 79, 90 

Drake, John 23 

Drake, Thomas 25 

Edwards, Pierpont 15 

Ewing, Dr. John 72, 73 

Fell, John 54 

Fermoy, General 86 

Finley, Dr 13, 16 

Finnie, William 59 

Fitch, John 71, 72 

Frelinghuyisen, Colonel 33 

Franklin 76 



94 

PAGE 

Grant, General 36 

Green, Rev. Ashbel 89 

Griffin, Cyrus 67 

Hamilton, Mrs 25 

Hancock, John 43 

Harley 41 

Harris, William S 6 

Hart, Levy 25 

Heard, General 30, 33 

Hevilon, John 26 

Hill, Alexander 15 

Holmes, Mr 83 

Hopper, Captain 32 

Houston, Archibald 1, 2, 4 

Houston Family. (See appendix.) 

Houston, George Smith 90 

Houston, Margaret 1 

Houston, William 1 

Houston, William Churchill. Birth of, 1; early education, 5; 
goes to Princeton, 8; professor at Princeton, 16; Captain 
of Infantry, 19-24; Deputy Secretary of Continental Con- 
gress, 39; Member of Legislature of New Jersey, 44; 
Member of Congress, 45; chosen Controller of the Trea- 
sury of United States, which he declines, 66; Clerk of 
Supreme Court of Nev\' Jersey, 67; Collector of Conti- 
nental Taxes, 67; Commissioner, 67; Assists Fitch, 72; 
Delegate to Annapolis Convention of 17S6, 74; Delegate 
to Constitutional Convention of 1787, 79-86; Death of, 
89, 90. 

Houeton, William Churchill, Jr 90 

Hunt, John 24 

Irving, Washington 13 

Irwin, Nathaniel 72 

Jack, Captain James 1 

Jack, Margaret 1 

Jefferson, Governor 60 

Johnson, Benjamin 25 

Johnson, Jacobus 23, 24 26 

Jolne 13 

King, Rufus 79 

Knox, John 16 

Lee, Arthur 47, 48 

Lee, Francis B 36 

Lincoln, General 31 

Livingston, Governor 46, 50, 53, 57, 58, 62, 63, 79, 80, 81, 86 

Longstreet, Lie.ut. Aaron 19 

MacLean 17 

McAden, Rev. Hugh 7 

McCullough, Capi 33 

McWhorter, Alexander 7 



95 

PAGS 

Madison, James 17 

Martin, Altxander 7 

Mawhood, Colonel 37, 38 

Mercer, General 37, 38 

Mifllin, General 36 

Milligan, James 6S 

Morris, Gouveneur 84 

Morris, Robert 63 

Nash, Governor 60 

Neilson, John 80, 81 

Oakham, Mr 25 

Oeborn, Adlai 16 

Paterson, William 79, SO, 81, 82, 83 

Patterson, Brig. General 43 

Patton, Benjamin 6 

Paulding 13 

Phifer, John 6 

Phillips, Horace G 90 

Pitt 40 

Poor, Brig. General 43 

Potts, Stacy 72 

Powhatan 9 

Queman, Samuel 26 

Quick, Colonel Abraham 19, 21 

Randolph, Peyton 40 

Reed, Bowes 81 

Rees, David 6 

Rees, Thomas, D. D 8, 15 

Rumple, Dr 6 

Rut ledge. Governor 60 

Schuyler, Major G-eneral 43 

Scudder, Nath 54 

Schuurman, James 78, 80 

Sebring, Michael 15 

Sergeant, Mr 89 

Sherman 84 

Sim, Hugh 15 

Smith, Rev. Caleb 90 

Smith, Thomas 15 

Stark, Mr 83 

St. Clair. General 43 

Steward, Colonel 33 

Stockton, Ensign James 19 

Story, Isaac 15 

Stryker, Adjutant General, N. J 20 

Thomson, Charles 40, 41, 44-88 

Tyler 16 



96 



PAOK 

Warner, General 30 

Washington, General 26, 35, 37, 42, 43, 52, 60. 77 

Whilden, Mr 82 

Whipple, William 67 

Wilson, Zacheus 6 

Witherspoon, Dr. John 16, 17, 19, 21, 44, 45, 54, 66, 79 

Van Bunschooten, Eliae 15 

Van Nostrand, Mr 26 

Vance, Major 26 



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